PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund, 


Division 
Section 


CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/childrenofafricaOObair 


J 


ROYS  HUNTING 


CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 

BY 

y 

JAMES  B.  BAIRD 

AUTHOR  OF 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    CHICAGO  TORONTO 


PRINTED  BY 
TURKBULL  AND  SPEARS 
EDINBURGH 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  TAGE 

I.  Introductory       .....  9 
II.  The  Dark  Continent     ....  10 

III.  The  Great  Races  of  Africa     .        .  -14 

IV.  An  African  House         ....  17 
V.  The  African  Child        .        .       \  .22 

VI.  An  African  Village       .         .        .  -25 
VII.  Games.        ......  32 

VIII.  Fairytales.        .         .         .        .        .  40 

IX.  Animal  Stories     ....  43 

X.  Finger  Rhymes  and  Riddles    .         .  -49 
XI.  Food  and  Ornaments     ...  56 
XII.  The  African's  Belief      .         .         .  .62 

XIII.  The  African  in  Sickness  .  .66 

XIV.  Magic  Medicine    .....  72 
XV.  The  Dance  and  Musical  Instruments        .  76 

XVI.  Hindrances  to  the  Gospel  .  .  .80 
XVII.  Methods  of  Mission  Work      .        .        .  84 

7 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


1.  Boys  Hunting  . 

2.  A  Village  Hut  . 

3.  His  First  Suit  . 

4.  An  African  Village 

5.  A  Bathing  Pool 

6.  Drill  replaces  the  Dance 

7.  A  Mission  School  Class 

8.  Attacked  by  a  Leopard 


Frontispiece 


PAGE 

18 


In  p7-eparing  his  coloured  pictures^  the  artist  has  received  much 
help  from  photographs  kindly  supplied  by  Mr  J.  W.  Skinner 
and  Mr  A.  J.  Story. 


8 


CHILDREN   OF  AFRICA 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY 

"  From  Greenland's  icy  mountains, 

From  India's  coral  strand, 
Where  Afric's  sunny  fountains 

Roll  down  their  golden  sand, 
From  many  an  ancient  river, 

From  many  a  palmy  plain, 
They  call  us  to  deliver 

Their  land  from  error's  chain." 

There  is  not  one  of  you,  my  dear  boys  and  girls, 
who  does  not  know  this  oft-sung  missionary  hymn. 
But  if  there  is,  then  of  this  I  am  sure,  there  is  not 
one  who  knows  it  who  does  not  love  it,  for  it  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  our  hymns.  Since  it  was 
written  many  years  ago  by  Bishop  Heber,  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  young  voices  have  sung  it ;  hundreds 
and  hundreds  are  singing  it  to-day ;  and  hundreds 
and  hundreds  will  yet  sing  it. 

It  is  a  great  call  to  us  who  know  Christ  our  Saviour 
to  spread  abroad  into  all  heathen  lands  our  know- 
ledge of  Him  who  came  down  from  heaven  and 
died  to  save  mankind.  And  nob:y  has  the  call  been 
responded  to.  The  Christian  Churches  have  sent 
forth  messengers  into  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  to 
preach  the  "  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  which  shall  be 
to  all  people  "  in  obedience  to  the  command  of  their 

9 


10  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


risen  Lord  who  said,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach 
all  nations." 

So  in  our  own  day  we  find  that  Christ's  ambassadors 
have  gone  into  every  continent  and  penetrated  into 
the  most  distant  lands ;  that  the  Bible,  or  some 
part  of  it  at  least,  has  been  translated  into  many 
different  languages;  and  that  the  lives  of  countless 
numbers  of  native  peoples  have  been  made  purer 
and  holier  and  happier  by  their  knowledge  of  Him  who 
loves  them. 

As  you  all  know  one  of  the  continents  of  the  earth 
is  called  Africa — the  dark  Continent ;  and  it  is  about 
Africa  and  its  children  I  want  to  write  to  you. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  DARK  CONTINENT 

Africa  has  been  called  the  Dark  Continent,  and  the 
name  is  suitable  in  more  ways  than  one.  To  the 
European  people  it  was  for  ages  a  dark  continent, 
because  it  was  unknown,  that  is,  unexplored  by 
them.  The  name  is  also  appropriate  because  Africa 
is  the  home  of  millions  of  dark-skinned  people.  But 
from  a  Christian  point  of  view  Africa  is  the  dark 
continent,  because  over  most  of  its  inhabitants  there 
still  hangs  a  black  cloud  of  heathen  darkness  that  shuts 
out  the  glorious  rays  of  the  Gospel  of  Light  and  Love. 

Of  course  you  must  know  that  Africa  has  not  all 
been  an  unknown  land.  The  northern  part  of  it, 
which  borders  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  has  been  known 
from  ancient  times.  And  is  not  Egypt  the  land  of 
the  Nile  and  the  home  of  the  Pharaohs  in  Africa, 


THE  DARK  CONTINENT  11 


although  we  sometimes  do  not  realise  it  ?  But  it  is 
not  so  much  of  these  northern  lands  that  I  want  to 
tell  you  as  about  the  far  greater  portion  that  stretches 
away  south  over  the  Equator  right  down  to  the  Cape. 
This  part  was  until  not  so  long  ago  the  dark  unknown 
continent,  the  land  of  those  teeming  millions  of  dark- 
skinned  people  who  hved  out  their  lives  without  ever 
hearing  the  Gospel  story  and  without  knowing  the 
love  of  God  for  the  children  of  men. 

For  hundreds  of  years  very,  very  little  was  known 
of  this  vast  land  lying  away  to  the  south.  The 
ancient  peoples  must  have  been  afraid  to  explore  it, 
and  it  is  no  wonder,  for  Africa  is  a  land  full  of  dangers 
and  difficulties  that  must  have  appeared  overwhelm- 
ing to  the  ancients.  Here  is  a  description  of  part  of 
a  voyage  along  the  African  Coast  made  in  the  old 
days.  I  read  it  the  other  day  in  a  nice  book  about 
Central  Africa.  "  Having  taken  in  water  we  sailed 
thence  straight  forwards  until  we  came  to  a  great 
gulf  which  the  interpreter  said  was  called  the  Horn 
of  the  West.  In  it  was  a  large  island,  and  in  the  island 
a  lake  like  a  sea,  and  in  this  another  island  on  which 
we  landed  ;  and  by  day  we  saw  nothing  but  woods, 
but  by  night  we  saw  many  fires  burning,  and  heard 
the  sounds  of  flutes  and  cymbals,  and  the  beating 
of  drums,  and  an  immense  shouting.  Fear  came 
upon  us,  and  the  soothsayers  bade  us  quit  the  island. 
Having  speedily  set  sail,  we  passed  by  a  burning 
country  full  of  incense,  and  from  it  huge  streams  of 
fire  flowed  into  the  sea  ;  and  the  land  could  not  be 
walked  upon  because  of  the  heat.  Being  alarmed 
we  speedily  sailed  away  thence  also,  and  going  along 
four  days  we  saw  by  night  the  land  full  of  flame, 
and  in  the  midst  was  a  lofty  fire,  greater  than  the  rest, 


12  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


and  seeming  to  touch  the  stars.  This  by  day  appeared 
as  a  vast  mountain  called  the  Chariot  of  the  Gods. 
On  the  third  day  from  this,  sailing  by  fiery  streams, 
we  came  to  a  gulf  called  the  Horn  of  the  South." 

After  reading  such  a  description  do  you  wonder 
that  the  ancients  left  the  land  to  the  south  severely 
alone  ?  We  to-day  can  give  a  very  simple  explanation 
for  the  above  fiery  exhibition.  These  ancient  mariners 
had  evidently  visited  that  part  of  Africa  at  the  time 
of  the  bush  fires  and  were  consequently  appalled. 

In  the  year  i486  a  Portuguese  navigator,  called 
Diaz,  sighted  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  and  a  fellow 
countryman,  Vasco  da  Gama,  a  few  years  later,  dis- 
covered Natal  and  the  Cape  route  to  India.  But  of 
inland  exploration  there  was  httle  or  none  till  men 
like  James  Bruce  and  Mungo  Park  made  their  famous 
journeys  in  the  interior,  the  one  on  the  Blue  Nile,  and 
the  other  on  the  Niger.  Then  bit  by  bit  our  knowledge 
of  the  interior  of  Africa  was  added  to  by  such  brave 
men  of  whom  Dr  Livingstone  is  the  most  famous. 

If  you  ever  get  the  opportunity  of  looking  at  an 
old  map  of  Africa  you  will  find  that  most  of  the 
interior  is  blank.  But  now  the  map  of  Africa  is 
filled  with  names  and  features  that  are  known  to  us 
through  exploration.  Mighty  rivers  and  great  lakes 
have  been  discovered,  and  mountains  of  which  the 
ancients  only  dreamed  are  familiar  to  us.  All  honour 
to  the  brave  men  who  have  laid  us  so  heavily  under 
their  debt,  and  to  no  one  more  than  to  David  Living- 
stone, whose  noble  example  was  as  an  inspiration, 
and  who  as  missionary  and  explorer  laid  down  his 
hfe  for  the  Dark  Continent. 

But  for  many  years  the  European  nations  only 
looked  upon  Africa  as  a  land  whence  slaves  were  to 


THE  DARK  CONTINENT  13 


be  taken  for  their  plantations  in  the  New  World. 
And  this  part  of  the  history  of  Africa  is  a  dark  blot 
upon  their  fair  fame.  What  with  the  European 
slave-buying  in  the  West,  the  Arab  slave-hunting  in 
the  East,  and  the  chiefs  perpetually  at  war  and 
enslaving  one  another's  people,  the  lives  of  countless 
numbers  of  these  ignorant  people  were  made  miserable 
in  the  extreme. 

The  village  lies  slumbering  peacefully  in  the  hollow 
in  the  midst  of  its  gardens  of  maize  and  sweet  potatoes. 
It  is  silently  surrounded  before  dawn  by  the  cruel 
Arab  and  his  men.  Shots  ring  out.  The  startled 
inhabitants  rush  forth  into  the  grey  morning  with 
shouts  of "  Nkondo  !  "  (War  !  ")  "  Nkondo  !  "  (War  !  ") 
The  men  who  resist  or  try  to  flee  are  ruthlessly  shot 
down.  Houses  and  gardens  are  burned  and  de- 
stroyed, the  dead  and  dying  are  left  where  they 
fall,  round  the  necks  of  the  living  is  riveted  the 
hateful  slave  stick,  and  the  gang  is  on  its  way  to 
the  coast  leaving  behind  only  the  abomination  of 
desolation.  Too  often,  alas !  have  the  children  of 
Africa  tasted  of  this  bitter  cup. 

And  now  that  the  European  people  know  the  sin 
from  which  they  were  freed  by  the  mercy  of  God, 
it  behoves  them  to  try  their  best  to  make  up  to  the 
black  people  for  the  injury  they  formerly  did  them. 
That  much  is  being  done  we  know  for  the  whole 
continent  is  marked  out  as  belonging  to  the  different 
European  nations  and  is  ruled  by  them.  So  the  days 
of  the  old  tribal  wars  are  over  and  the  slave-hunter 
has  disappeared  from  the  land. 

The  future  of  the  Dark  Continent  you  will  then 
see  lies  now  to  a  large  extent  in  the  hands  of  the  people 
of  Europe.    The  old  rule  of  the  native  chiefs  has  in 


14  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


most  places  passed  away,  and  in  others  is  rapidly 
passing.  The  power  has  gone  into  the  hands  of  the 
white  man.  Pray  God  he  may  use  it  wisely  and  guide 
his  black  brother  towards  the  green  pastures  as 
becomes  a  follower  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus 
Christ. 

CHAPTER  III 

THE  GREAT  RACES  OF  AFRICA 

Before  I  begin  to  speak  to  you  about  the  children 
of  Africa,  I  would  Hke  you  to  understand  how  the 
people  of  Africa  are  separated  into  different  families 
or  divisions.  There  are  in  Africa  nearly  two  hundred 
millions  of  people,  but  they  do  not  all  belong  to 
the  same  race.  The  three  big  families  are  the  Berbers 
in  the  north,  the  Negroes  in  the  middle,  and  the  Bantus 
in  the  south.  Besides  these  there  are  some  smaller 
divisions  to  which  belong  the  Pigmies  or  Dwarfs, 
those  strange  Uttle  people  whom  Stanley  encountered 
on  his  famous  journey  through  the  terrible  forests 
of  the  Congo.  Then  there  are  the  Hottentots  and  the 
Bushmen  of  the  south-west  corner  of  Africa,  who 
have  been  driven  into  the  desert  and  hilly  places  by 
the  more  powerful  invading  Bantu  tribes. 

Many  long  years  ago  the  whole  of  the  northern 
part  of  Africa  was  invaded  by  large  numbers  of  fierce 
Arab  tribes.  They  were  very  warlike  and  soon 
overran  the  whole  country  and  settled  down  in  it, 
and  lived  side  by  side  with  the  original  people  of  the 
country  as  their  masters,  but  with  whom  they  after- 
wards mingled.  So  the  North  Africans  of  to-day  are, 
you  see,  a  people  of  mixed  race. 


THE  GREAT  RACES  OF  AFRICA  15 


These  hordes  of  conquering  Arabs  who  overran  the 
country  were  Mohammedans,  and  they  forced  their 
rehgion  upon  the  people  among  whom  they  settled. 
Mohammedanism  is  therefore  the  chief  religion  of 
the  north  of  Africa.  Now  these  Berber  tribes  are 
very  dark-skinned  when  compared  with  Europeans, 
but  they  do  not  belong  to  the  black  people.  They 
are,  in  fact,  classed  along  with  the  white  races. 

The  true  black  people  are  the  Negroes,  and  their 
home  is  in  the  middle  part  of  Africa  which  stretches 
eastwards  right  across  from  the  West  Coast.  They 
are  the  people  with  the  black  skins,  the  woolly  heads, 
the  thick  lips,  the  flat  noses,  and  the  beautiful  white 
teeth.  It  is  they  whose  forefathers  were  bought 
as  slaves  and  taken  to  America  where  we  find  their 
descendants  to-day.  They  were  a  heathen  people, 
and  had  many  cruel  customs,  and  some  of  them  were 
cannibals.  Mohammedanism  has  come  upon  them 
from  the  north  and  the  east,  and  a  great  many  of 
them  now  belong  to  that  religion. 

The  home  of  the  Bantu  people  is  the  great  southern 
portion  of  Africa.  The  Bantus  are  not  so  black  as 
are  the  Negroes,  nor  are  they  quite  so  thick-lipped 
and  flat-nosed.  But  in  all  other  ways  they  are  very 
similar  to  their  Negro  neighbours.  They  are  a  heathen 
people  although  Christianity  has  made  good  progress 
among  them.  They  are  brave  and  intelligent,  and 
are  showing  themselves  able  to  adopt  a  higher  and 
better  way  of  living. 

The  other  smaller  tribes,  the  Pigmies,  the  Hottentots, 
and  the  Bushmen  are  far  below  the  Negroes  and 
Bantus  in  intelhgence.  The  first  of  these,  the  Pigmies 
or  Dwarfs,  inhabit  the  dense  forest  region  of  the  Congo, 
and  not  very  much  is  known  about  them  even  to-day. 


16  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


The  Hottentots  and  the  Bushmen  live  away  down 
in  the  extreme  south-west  of  Africa  and  the  Kalahari 
Desert.  It  is  said  that  they  are  the  descendants  of 
the  older  inhabitants  of  Africa,  who  had  to  seek  refuge 
in  the  hills  and  deserts  from  the  powerful  Bantu 
tribes  who  invaded  and  seized  their  country. 

Now  I  think  this  will  be  quite  enough  information 
about  the  different  races  dwelling  in  Africa.  What 
I  want  you  to  understand  is  that  the  whole  of  the 
northern  portion  of  Africa  is  Mohammedan,  that  the 
Negro  people  are  many  already  Mohammedan,  and 
that  others  are  rapidly  being  converted  to  that  re- 
ligion, and  that  the  Bantu  people  are  mostly  yet 
heathen,  while  some  have  become  Christian,  especialty 
those  of  the  south. 

In  Africa  there  is  a  great  war  going  on.  Three 
mighty  forces  or  powers  are  fighting  against  one 
another,  and  victory  cannot  go  to  them  all.  These 
great  forces  are  Mohammedanism,  heathenism,  and 
Christianity.  But  to  those  of  us  who  know  the 
African,  it  is  plain  that  the  great  fight  will  be  between 
the  first  and  the  last,  that  the  Africans  will  be  ruled  by 
the  Cross  or  the  Crescent,  that  the  Bible  or  the 
Koran  will  be  their  Holy  Book,  that  Mohammed  or 
Christ  will  be  their  guide  in  this  life. 

Already  we  see  that  the  whole  of  the  north  follows 
the  Prophet  of  Mecca.  The  nature-worship  of  the 
Negro  and  Bantu,  although  yet  strong,  will  pass  away 
with  the  passing  years.  The  south  is  largely  Christian, 
and  Christianity  is  pushing  up  northwards.  Christian 
missions  are  attacking  the  strongholds  of  Moham- 
medanism and  heathenism  in  the  north,  west,  and  east, 
in  Egypt  and  the  newly  opened  Soudan. 


AN  AFRICAN  HOUSE  17 


CHAPTER  IV 

AN  AFRICAN  HOUSE 

You  must  be  wondering  when  you  are  going  to 
hear  about  the  children  of  Africa,  for  I  am  sure  you 
want  to  know  about  them  now,  the  httle  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  big  black  people  I  have  so  far  written 
about. 

Well,  it  so  happens  that  I  am  sitting  writing  this 
story  in  a  native  hut  in  Africa,  many  thousands  of 
miles  away  from  you ;  and  if  any  of  you  wanted  to 
come  and  join  me  here  and  see  for  yourselves,  you 
would  have  to  travel  a  good  many  weeks  to  reach  me. 
Will  you  let  me  first  try  to  describe  this  house  I  am 
in,  and  the  village  of  which  it  is  part,  as  being  what 
most  African  huts  and  villages  are  like,  and  in  which 
black  boys  and  girls  are  born  and  play. 

This  hut  is  a  square  one,  and  a  good  deal  larger 
than  you  would  imagine.  It  is  the  size  of  a  small 
cottage  at  home.  Long  ago  most  of  the  huts  were 
round,  I  beUeve,  and  indeed  many  of  them  are  so  yet. 
But  square  ones  have  come  into  fashion  here,  for  even 
in  far-off  Africa  there  is  such  a  thing  as  fashion,  and 
it  can  change  too.  This  hut  is  divided  into  three 
rooms.  The  middle  one  is  provided  with  a  door  to 
the  front  and  another  to  the  back.  The  rooms  on  each 
side  have  very  small  windows  hke  spy  holes  looking 
out  to  each  end.  All  round  the  house  runs  a  verandah 
which  prevents  the  fierce  rays  of  the  sun  from  beating 
against  the  walls  of  the  house  and  throws  off  the 
heavy  showers  of  rain  of  the  wet  season  clear  of  the 
house.  The  whole  house  is  built  of  grass  and  bamboos. 


18  THE  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


and  h  smeared  over  with  mud  inside  and  out.  The 
roof,  supported  by  stout  cross  beams  in  the  middle 
of  the  partition  walls  in  which  other  forked  beams 
stand,  slopes  not  very  steeply  down  to  the  verandah 
posts  which  hold  up  its  lower  edges.  It  is  heavily 
thatched  with  fine  long  grass.  The  owner  knows 
by  experience  what  a  tropical  thunder- shower  means, 
so  he  leaves  nothing  to  chance  in  thatching  his 
house. 

In  the  middle  of  the  floor  in  the  room  with  the  doors 
a  small  hole  has  been  scooped.  It  is  surrounded  with 
stones  and  forms  the  cooking  hearth,  although  there 
is  also  attached  to  this  house  a  very  small  grass  shed 
about  a  dozen  yards  away  at  the  back  of  the  house, 
which  is  used  as  a  kitchen  on  most  occasions.  The 
doors  are  made  of  grass  and  bamboos,  and  at  night 
are  put  in  place  and  held  firm  by  a  wooden  cross 
bar.  Such  is  the  house  of  a  well-oflE  native  of  Africa. 
It  takes  but  a  few  weeks  to  build  and  lasts  but 
a  few  years. 

Of  course  in  a  house  with  such  small  windows  it  is 
always  more  or  less  dark.  In  the  end  rooms  with 
the  spy  holes  it  is  always  dark  to  me.  But  black 
boys  and  girls  do  not  seem  to  mind  this.  In  fact 
I  believe  they  are  like  owls  and  cats,  and  can  see 
in  the  dark.  I  am  certain  though  of  this  that 
they  can  see  ever  so  much  better  than  white 
children  can. 

There  is  not  much  to  look  at  in  the  way  of  furniture 
in  a  black  man's  houses  Here  is  a  table  made  in 
imitation  of  a  European  one  and  some  chairs  too, 
whose  backs  look  forbiddingly  straight,  a  few  cooking 
pots,  some  sleeping  mats,  a  hoe  or  two,  some  baskets, 
and  some  odds  and  ends  complete  the  Hst.  What 


AN  AFRICAN  HOUSE  19 


surprises  a  white  man  is  the  number  of  things  the 
black  people  can  do  without.  For  instance,  if  a 
white  man  wants  to  travel  in  this  country,  he  must 
first  of  all  gather  together  a  crowd  of  natives  to  carry 
him  and  his  belongings.  He  must  have  a  tent  and 
a  bed,  pots  and  pans,  boxes  of  provisions,  a  cook, 
and  servants,  before  he  can  travel  in  comfort.  But 
if  a  black  man  goes  on  a  journey  he  simply  takes  a 
pot  and  some  food  with  him,  and  maybe  a  mat  and 
blanket,  takes  his  stick  in  his  hand  and  his  bundle 
on  his  shoulder  and  off  he  goes,  it  may  be  to  walk 
hundreds  of  miles  before  he  comes  to  his  destination. 

To-day  there  is  no  fire  in  the  hearth.  There  is 
no  chimney  in  this  house  so  I  could  not  have  a  fire 
and  enjoy  my  stay.  The  owner,  however,  would  not 
mind  the  smoke  from  the  firewood.  He  is  used  to 
crouching  over  a  fire  and  his  eyes  get  hardened.  I 
see  in  one  corner  there  is  a  heap  of  grain  called  millet, 
and  in  another  a  white  ant-heap.  It  has  risen  in 
the  night  for  I  did  not  notice  it  before,  and  I  am  glad 
that  none  of  my  belongings  were  in  that  comer  of 
the  room.  Nothing  but  iron  seems  amiss  to  the  white 
ant.  His  appetite  is  terrible  and  he  can  play  sad 
havoc  with  one's  property  in  a  single  night.  There 
is  grain  in  one  corner  I  have  said,  and  consequently 
there  are  rats. 

The  Pied  Piper  of  Hamlin  of  whom  you  have  all 
heard  would  find  plenty  of  rats  to  charm  in  any 
African  village.  Then  in  the  houses  there  are  many 
kinds  of  biting  insects,  and  some  that  don't  bite,  but 
look  ugly.  The  mosquito  is  calling  ping !  ping ! 
everywhere,  and  night  is  made  endurable  only  by 
retiring  under  a  mosquito  net.  The  mosquito  is 
the  most  dangerous  insect  in  Africa,  for  it  has  been 


20  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


found  out  by  clever  doctors  that  it  is  the  mosquito 
bite  that  causes  the  dreaded  malaria  fever. 

In  tropical  Africa  nearly  all  the  insects  bite  or  sting, 
even  innocent-looking  caterpillars,  if  touched,  give 
one  itch.  Nor  may  you  pull  every  flower  you  see, 
for  some  of  them  are  more  stinging  than  nettles. 
To-day  I  came  across  two  boys  hoeing  a  road.  One 
was  a  bright  fellow  who  kept  things  Uvely  by  singing 
snatches  of  songs  and  whistling  at  his  work.  When 
I  came  near  I  spied  a  fine  large  glossy  black  beetle 
hurrying  away  after  having  been  thrown  up  by  the 
hoe.  I  asked  the  lively  youth  what  kind  of  insect 
it  was.  In  reply  he  dropped  his  hoe  and  pounced 
upon  the  unfortunate  beetle  and  held  it  up  to  me 
for  inspection.  "  Does  it  bite  ?  "  I  asked,  astonished. 
"  Oh  !  yes,"  he  said,  "  look."  So  saying  he  stuck 
the  point  of  one  of  his  fingers  close  to  the  head  of  the 
angry  creature,  which  promptly  seized  it  with  its 
pincers. 

But  one  gets  used  to  these  pests,  and  even  the  sight 
of  a  spider  the  size  of  a  two-shilling  piece  running  up 
the  wall  does  not  disturb  one.  There  is  one  insect, 
however,  you  may  not  despise,  and  which  you  can  never 
get  accustomed  to,  the  red  ant.  He  comes  in  millions, 
and  if  he  deigns  to  pay  your  house  a  visit  while  on 
his  journey,  you  had  better  leave  him  in  possession 
of  the  place.  Unless  you  happen  to  head  him  off 
early  with  burning  grass  and  red  hot  ashes  you  need 
not  stay  to  argue  with  him.  Everything  living  dis- 
appears before  him,  rats,  mice,  lizards,  cats,  dogs, 
boys  and  girls,  men  and  women  give  way  before  his 
majesty,  the  red  ant. 

I  remember  watching  for  half  an  hour  an  army  of 
red  ants  on  the  march.    They  were  streaming  out 


AN  AFRICAN  HOUSE  21 


from  a  small  hole  in  the  grass,  crossing  over  a  hoed 
road,  and  disappearing  into  another  hole  in  the  grass 
on  the  other  side.  Each  was  carrying  a  tiny  load  that 
looked  like  a  small  grain  of  rice,  and  was  hurrying 
after  his  neighbour  as  if  the  whole  world  depended 
on  his  speed.  Here  and  there  on  each  side  of  the 
hurrying  companies  were  scouts  and  officers  without 
loads  evidently  engaged  in  keeping  the  others  in  order 
and  in  watching  for  enemies.  What  I  thought  were 
grains  of  rice,  the  boys  told  me  were  '*  ana  a  chiswe," 
that  is  white  ant's  children.  Somewhere  underground 
there  must  have  been  dreadful  war  and  the  red  ants 
were  carrying  off  the  spoils  of  victory. 

Next  there  came  along  a  poor  Httle  hzard  borne 
by  eager  and  willing — I  had  almost  said  hands — 
pincers.  Here  a  pair  were  fixed  in,  there  another 
pair.  Everywhere  that  a  pair  of  pincers  could  find 
a  grip  there  was  the  pair.  I  pulled  the  lizard  out  but 
it  was  quite  dead.  So  I  pushed  it  back  into  the 
excited  line  and  it  was  soon  on  the  march  again. 
After  a  little  there  came  past  a  curious  round  little 
object  into  which  dozens  of  ants  were  sticking  and 
which  with  ants  swarming  atop  was  being  carried 
along  with  the  stream.  I  rescued  this  strange  thing 
too,  because  I  was  anxious  to  find  out  what  it  was — 
the  thing  inside  this  living  ball  of  ants.  One  of  the 
boys  got  a  basin  of  water  and  plumped  the  ball  into 
it,  and  with  a  piece  of  wood  scraped  the  angry  insects 
and  frothy-looking  stuff  off.  Then  there  was  revealed 
a  tiny  toad  which  the  boys  called  "  Nantuzi."  It 
was  just  hke  a  little  bag  with  four  legs,  one  at  each 
corner.  When  annoyed  it  swells  itself  up  hke  a  ball 
and  refuses  to  budge.  When  seized  by  the  ants  it  had 
promptly  covered  itself  with  a  frothy,  sticky  spittle. 


22  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


and  so  was  little  hurt.  Had  I  not  rescued  it,  however, 
it  would  have  been  eaten  at  last  overcome  by  numbers. 
Then  I  got  tired  watching,  and  left  the  never-ending 
ant  army  still  on  the  march. 

CHAPTER  V 

THE  AFRICAN  CHILD 

Inside  such  a  house  as  has  been  described,  and  in 
many  a  smaller  one,  are  born  the  children  of  Africa. 
At  first  and  for  a  few  days  they  are  not  black.  I  am 
told  they  are  pink  in  colour  and  quite  hght,  but  that 
they  soon  darken.  The  mothers  and  grandmothers 
are  very  pleased  to  welcome  new  babies  and  bath 
and  oil  them  carefully.  Nearly  all  the  women  one 
meets  about  a  village  have  children  tied  on  their 
backs,  or  are  followed  by  them  toddling  behind. 
These  mites  glisten  in  the  sun  as  they  are  well  oiled 
to  keep  their  skins  in  good  condition. 

In  some  tribes  very  little  children  have  no  names. 
You  ask  the  mother  of  an  infant  what  she  calls  her 
baby,  and  she  replies,  Alibe  dzina  " — It  has  no  name. 
I  once  asked  the  father  of  a  plump  little  infant  what 
the  name  of  his  child  was.  He  told  me  that  it  had 
not  been  named  yet  but  that  when  the  child  would 
begin  to  smile  and  recognise  people  it  would  get  a 
name.  Well,"  I  said,  '*  when  he  smiles  call  him 
Tommy."  Months  after  I  saw  the  child  again,  a 
fine  boy  he  was  too,  and  Tommy  was  his  name.  But 
alas  !  Tommy  did  not  Hve  more  than  two  years. 
He  took  some  child  trouble  and  died. 

Sometimes  the  father  or  the  mother  may  give  a  child 


HIS   FIRST  SUI 


THE  AFRICAN  CHILD  23 

its  name,  or  sometimes  a  friend  may  name  it.  Many 
of  the  names  have  no  special  meaning,  but  some  of 
them  refer  to  things  that  happened  or  were  seen  at 
the  time  the  child  was  born.  Boys'  and  girls'  names 
differ  from  one  another  although  the  difference  is 
not  clear  to  the  white  man.  But  if  he  stays  long 
enough  among  the  black  children  he  will  begin  to 
know  what  are  boys'  names  and  what  are  girls'. 
I  know  a  bright  boy  who  is  called  Mang'anda." 
In  English  you  would  have  to  call  him  Master  Playful. 
Another  child  I  can  recall  is  called  "  Handifuna," 
which  means  "  Miss  they  don't  want  me."  But 
wherever  the  white  man  is  settling  in  Africa  the 
people  are  picking  up  European  names  ;  and  it  is  a 
pity,  I  think,  that  the  old  names  will  pass  away. 

Little  black  children  are  not  nursed  and  tended 
so  carefully  as. white  children  are.  From  a  very  early 
age  they  are  tied  on  to  their  mother's  backs  and  are 
taken  everywhere.  It  is  seldom  that  an  accident 
happens  through  a  child  falling  out,  for  the  black 
children  seem  to  have  an  extraordinary  power  of 
holding  on.  If  mother  is  too  busy  another  back  is 
soon  found  for  baby  to  show  his  sticking-on  ability. 
In  any  village  you  may  see  a  group  of  women  pounding 
com  in  their  mortars  under  a  shady  tree.  It  is  hard 
work,  this  daily  pounding  of  corn.  Up  and  down 
go  the  heavy  wooden  pestles.  Backwards  and  for- 
wards go  the  heads  of  the  babies  tied  on  the  mothers' 
backs.  At  each  downward  thud  baby's  neck  gets  a 
violent  jerk,  but  he  is  all  unconscious  of  it,  and  sleeps 
through  an  ordeal  that  would  kill  his  white  brother. 
Again  a  woman  with  an  infant  on  her  back  may  go 
a  journey  of  many  miles  exposed  to  the  full  blaze 
of  the  African  sun.    Yet  baby  is  quite  comfortable 


24  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


and  never  gives  a  single  cry  unless  when  he  is 
hungry. 

Then  black  children  have  no  cribs  and  cradles  as 
have  white  ones.  When  mother  is  tired  of  baby, 
and  there  is  no  other  back  at  hand,  she  simply  lays 
him  down  on  a  mat  and  leaves  him  to  himself  to  do 
as  he  likes.  If  he  makes  a  noise,  well  he  can  just 
make  it.  He  will  disturb  nobody,  and  is  allowed 
to  cry  until  he  is  tired.  Unless  he  is  known  to  be  ill, 
his  squalling,  be  it  never  so  loud,  will  attract  no  atten- 
tion. Most  of  the  mothers  are  very  proud  of  their 
children,  and  oil  them  and  shave  their  woolly  heads 
with  great  care.  But  in  spite  of  all  this  care  on  the 
mother's  part,  great  numbers  of  the  babies  die. 
Very  often  they  are  really  killed  through  their  mother's 
ignorance  of  how  they  ought  to  be  fed  and  nursed 
when  sick.  Then  diseases  Hke  smallpox  pass  through 
the  villages  at  intervals  and  carry  off  hundreds  of 
children. 

A  black  infant  is  not  clothed  hke  a  white  one. 
If  his  mother  is  very  proud  of  him  he  will  have  a 
string  of  beads  round  his  neck  or  waist.  Round  his 
fat  little  wrist  or  neck  you  will  often  see  tied  on  by 
string  a  small  medicine  charm,  put  there  by  his  fond 
mother  to  protect  him  against  disease  or  evil  influence. 
When  the  babies  are  big  enough  to  toddle  they  begin 
to  look  out  for  themselves,  and  when  they  have  fairly 
found  their  legs  they  go  everywhere  and  do  almost 
anything  they  hke  so  long  as  they  do  not  give  trouble. 

A  httle  boy's  first  article  of  clothing  may  be  made 
of  different  coloured  beads  carefully  woven  into  a 
square  patch,  which  he  wears  hanging  down  before 
him  from  a  string  of  beads  encircling  his  waist.  Or  it 
may  perhaps  be  only  the  skin  of  a  small  animal  worn 


AN  AFRICAN  VILLAGE  25 


in  the  same  way  as  the  square  of  beads.  He  may, 
however,  begin  with  a  cloth  from  the  beginning.  If 
so  his  mother  provides  him  with  a  yard  of  caHco, 
rolls  it  round  him,  and  sends  him  out  into  the  world 
as  proud  as  a  white  boy  with  his  first  pair  of  trousers. 

He  gets  no  special  food  because  he  is  a  child.  He 
eats  whatever  is  going  and  whatever  he  can  lay  his 
hands  upon.  Thus  he  grows  up  not  unhke  a  little 
animal.  There  is  not  much  trouble  taken  with  him. 
If  he  lives,  he  lives  ;  and  if  he  dies — well,  he  is  buried. 
No  fond  lips  have  bent  over  him  and  kissed  him 
asleep,  for  kissing  is  not  known  to  his  people.  Nor 
has  he  learned  to  lisp  the  name  of  Jesus  at  his  mother's 
knee.  It  is  not  that  his  mother  does  not  love  him, 
for  she  does  in  her  own  peculiar  way.  But  all  are 
shrouded  in  ignorance,  father,  mother  and  children, 
all  held  in  the  grip  of  dark  superstitions  from  which 
nothing  but  the  light  of  the  Gospel  of  Love  can  free 
them. 


CHAPTER  VI 

AN  AFRICAN  VILLAGE 

Shall  we  go  round  the  village  now  ?  Well  come 
away  and  we'll  have  a  walk  through  it.  But  as  we 
are  strangers  and  white,  I  must  warn  you  that  many 
pairs  of  curious  eyes  will  be  watching  us  when  we 
know  not,  and  all  we  do  and  say  will  be  the  talk  of 
the  village  for  a  long  time  to  come.  It  is  not  every 
day  that  the  villagers  get  such  a  good  look  at  a  white 
person,  and  they  will  take  advantage  of  their  chance 
to-day.    Babies  on  backs  will  cry  if  we  come  near 


26  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


them,  and  little  mites  that  can  run  will  disappear 
behind  their  mothers  and  peep  out  at  us,  feehng  safe 
but  very  much  afraid.  In  fact,  many  of  the  women 
frighten  their  naughty  children  by  telhng  them  that 
if  they  do  not  behave  better  they  will  send  them  to 
the  white  people,  who  will  eat  them.  Consequently 
when  a  white  man  comes  along  the  children  often 
scatter  in  terror  as  from  a  wild  beast.  And  would 
not  white  children  do  just  the  same  from  a  black 
man  if  they  were  told  that  he  might  eat  them. 

In  a  certain  African  Mission  not  long  after  school 
had  been  started  for  the  first  time,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  build  a  kiln  for  the  burning  of  bricks. 
But  the  eyes  of  the  children  had  been  watching  the 
building,  and  whatever  could  it  be  but  a  large  oven 
in  which  to  cook  them.  So  the  whole  school  fled 
pell-mell  to  their  homes.  Of  course  you  must  re- 
member that  in  several  different  parts  of  Africa  some 
of  the  tribes  were  cannibals,  and  even  in  our  day 
there  are  still  tribes  among  which  the  eating  of  human 
flesh  is  not  unknown. 

Here  we  come  to  a  house  not  unlike  the  one  we  have 
already  described  to  you,  but  smaller  and  not  so 
neatly  finished.  The  owner  will  not  be  so  well-off 
as  the  owner  of  that  we  occupied.  Let  us  go  near 
along  this  path.  Here  comes  an  old  lady  to  receive 
us,  and  there  go  the  children  round  the  corner,  and 
off  goes  baby  yonder  into  tears,  and  even  the  dogs 
begin  to  bark.  Banana  trees  grow  all  round  the 
house,  and  yonder  is  a  small  grove  of  them  on  the 
other  side  of  the  courtyard.  They  are  waving  a 
welcome  to  us  with  their  large  ragged  leaves.  The 
fruit  is  hanging  in  bunches  here  and  there  on  the  old 
trees,  and  is  evidently  not  yet  ripe. 


AN  AFRICAN  VILLAGE  27 


But  before  we  are  introduced  to  the  old  lady,  who 
is  coming  to  meet  us,  let  us  take  a  hasty  glance  round 
about.  First  we  see  that  the  children  are  getting 
braver,  and  are,  beginning  to  show  themselves  now. 
Ragged  looking  little  things  they  are,  who  do  not 
look  overclean.  The  skin  of  their  bodies  is  too  white 
to  have  been  washed  recently.  Isn't  it  strange  that 
a  black  boy  when  he  is  dirty  looks  white  ;  just  the 
opposite  from  a  white  boy,  who,  when  he  is  dirty, 
looks  black.  The  mother  of  the  crying  child  has 
turned  round  so  as  to  shut  us  off  from  baby's  frightened 
gaze.  In  one  corner  of  the  courtyard  is  a  pot  on  a 
fire,  the  contents  of  which  are  boiling  briskly.  This 
we  are  informed  is  to  be  part  of  the  evening  meal 
which  is  in  preparation.  It  seems  to  us  but  a  mass 
of  green  vegetable.  Really  it  consists  of  juicy  green 
leaves  of  a  certain  kind  plucked  in  the  bush.  Over 
there  in  the  shade  of  the  bananas  stand  one  or  two 
mortars  in  which  the  women  pound  their  grain,  and 
without  which  no  village,  however  small,  is  complete. 
On  the  verandah  of  the  house  stands  the  mill — a  very 
primitive  one.  A  large  flat  stone  slightly  hollowed 
out  holds  the  grain  which  is  ground  down  by  another 
stone,  a  round  one,  being  rubbed  backwards  and 
forwards  over  the  hollow  one.  Snuff  too  is  ground 
from  tobacco  in  this  way,  for  many  of  the  men  enjoy 
a  pinch  of  snuff  and  not  a  few  of  the  women  hke  to 
smoke  a  pipe.  A  fierce-looking  little  cat  is  blinking 
up  at  us,  watching  us  narrowly  through  the  dark 
slits  in  its  large  yellow-green  eyes,  seeming  in  doubt 
whether  to  run  off  or  to  put  up  its  back  at  us.  A 
sleeping  mat,  made  of  split  reeds,  and  spread  out  on 
the  ground  near  the  mortars,  is  covered  with  maize 
ready  to  be   pounded.    Two  or  three  baskets  are 


28  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


lying  about,  some  shallow,  some  deep,  some  large, 
and  some  small.  That  stump  of  a  tree  there  serves 
as  a  seat  when  the  shade  of  the  bananas  is  thrown 
on  it.  And  down  on  the  whole  is  pouring  a  flood  of 
tropical  sunshine,  so  hot  that  we  are  glad  to  retire 
into  the  shade  of  a  friendly  tree. 

But  the  old  lady  is  come  and  offers  us  her  left  hand. 
Her  arms  from  the  wrist  almost  to  the  elbow  are 
covered  with  heavy  bracelets,  and  her  legs,  from  the 
ankles  half  way  to  her  knees,  are  laden  with  great 
heavy  anklets  of  the  same  metal.  Clank  !  clank  ! 
clank  !  like  a  chained  prisoner  goes  the  poor  old 
soul  when  she  walks.  Long  ago  she  would  carry 
these  huge  ornaments  with  no  difficulty,  and  not  a 
little  joy.  But  now,  although  proud  of  them  still, 
no  doubt,  they  must  be  a  trouble  to  her  slipping  up 
and  down  on  her  withered  arms  and  legs,  for  she  has 
tried  to  protect  her  old  ankles  by  wrapping  round 
them  a  rag  of  calico  to  keep  the  brass  from  hurting. 
She  is  dressed  in  a  single  calico,  none  too  new,  but,  we 
are  pleased  to  see,  very  clean.  Other  cahcoes  doubt- 
less she  will  possess,  carefully  stored  away  and  hidden 
in  a  basket  in  the  darkest  corner  of  her  house. 

Her  old  face  is  a  mass  of  wrinkles  and  she  has  lost 
nearly  all  her  teeth.  But  her  upper  Hp  !  What  a 
sight  !  Poor  old  creature,  what  a  huge  ring  there  is 
in  it.  Why,  we  can  see  right  into  her  mouth  when 
she  speaks,  and  to  us  it  is  not  a  pleasant  sight.  This 
ring,  seen  in  many  old  women,  is  called  here  a 
"  pelele."  Men  do  not  wear  it.  When  a  girl  is 
young  her  upper  lip  is  bored  in  the  middle  and  a 
small  piece  of  bone  is  put  into  the  hole  to  keep  it 
open.  Gradually  larger  and  larger  pieces  are  put 
in  until  the  full  sized     pelele  "  is  reached.  Some- 


AN  AFRICAN  VILLAGE  29 


times  these  rings  are  as  much  as  two  inches  in  size, 
and  the  upper  Hp  is  fearfully  stretched  by  wearing 
them.  It  hangs  away  down  over  the  lower  lip,  and 
the  tongue  and  inside  of  the  mouth  are  seen  when 
the  old  "  pelele  "  wearer  speaks. 

The  old  dame  is  very  polite  but  you  can  see  that  she 
is  afraid  of  us  and  will  be  quite  glad  when  we  go 
elsewhere.  She  says  her  cat  is  not  a  bit  fierce  but 
is  a  first-rate  ratter,  so  much  so  that  there  isn't  a 
single  rat  in  her  house. 

Now  to  the  next  house  through  the  bananas.  It 
is  like  the  last  and  very  much  the  same  kind  of  things 
are  lying  about.  But  instead  of  a  cat  we  are  met  by 
the  usual  African  yellow-haired  dog.  He,  too,  is 
suspicious  of  us,  but  retires  growling.  A  hen  is  busy 
scraping  among  the  rubbish  at  the  side  of  the  house 
to  provide  food  for  her  numerous  offspring  that 
chirping  follow  her  motherly  cluck  !  cluck  ! 

Between  this  house  and  the  last  stand  the  grain 
stores,  round  giant  basket-Hke  things  with  thatched 
roofs.  The  largest  ones  are  for  holding  the  maize, 
and  the  small  ones  for  storing  away  the  beans.  That 
low  building  there  built  of  very  strong  poles  is  the 
goat  house.  It  needs  to  be  strong  as  the  hyaena 
and  leopard,  and  even  the  lion  sometimes  pay  the 
village  a  visit  at  night.  And  woe  betide  the  poor 
goats  if  a  fierce  leopard  should  get  in  among  them. 
Not  satisfied  with  kilUng  and  eating  one  he  will 
tear  open  as  many  as  he  can,  simply  for  the  pure  love 
of  killing. 

The  houses  in  the  village  are  all  much  the  same  as 
that  you  have  already  read  about  and  number  about 
twenty.  They  are  built  here,  there,  and  everywhere 
with  no  regard  to  plan  or  regularity.    The  comer 


30  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


of  the  verandah  of  this  one  projects  out  over  the 
footpath,  and  we  have  actually  to  cross  the  verandah 
to  get  down  to  the  well.  The  owner  only  laughs 
when  we  ask  him  why  he  built  his  house  so  near  to, 
and  partly  upon  the  path.  Some  day  he  says  he 
will  hoe  a  new  path  to  go  round  about  his  house. 
That  is  African  all  over.  He  will  do  things  some 
day.  He  thinks  the  European  mad  to  be  such  a 
slave  to  time. 

The  owner  of  each  house  greets  us  with  a  smile, 
and  we  are  well  received  by  all  except  some  of  the  old 
people  who  are  really  afraid  of  white  people,  and  who, 
while  glad  to  see  them  when  they  come  to  visit  their 
village,  are  still  more  glad  when  they  go  away.  We 
have  gathered  quite  a  crowd  of  little  people  about 
us,  and  they  follow  us  round  very  respectfully,  watch- 
ing all  we  do,  and  looking  at  all  we  have  on.  Many  of 
them  you  see  suffer  from  ulcers. 

Here  and  there  are  patches  of  tobacco  and  sweet 
potatoes,  but  most  of  the  gardens  are  outside  the 
village  proper.  Their  chief  crops  are  maize,  millet, 
sweet  potatoes  and  cassava  root.  Paths  twist  about 
and  cross  one  another  in  a  marvellous  manner.  This 
one  leads  down  to  the  stream,  that  to  the  next  village  ; 
this  to  the  graveyard  in  yonder  thicket,  a  place  shunned 
by  the  children,  that  to  the  hill.  A  white  stranger 
promptly  gets  lost  in  African  paths  and  has  to  give 
himself  up  to  the  guidance  of  the  native.  The  whole 
country  is  a  vast  net- work  of  such  snake- Kke  paths, 
and  I  verily  believe  you  could  pass  from  one  coast 
to  the  other  along  them. 

But  just  as  we  get  to  the  far  end  of  the  village 
there  is  something  to  interest  us.  It  is  a  very  small 
house  well  fenced  in.    On  the  roof  and  exposed  to 


AN  AFRICAN  VILLAGE  31 


the  sun  and  rain  are  spread  and  tied  down  a  blanket 
and  various  calicoes.  This  must  be  the  grave  of  some- 
one important.  It  is,  and  we  ask  to  be  allowed  to 
see  inside.  Permission  is  given  because  it  would 
not  be  polite  to  refuse  it,  not  because  it  is  given 
wiUingly.  It  proves  to  be  the  grave  of  the  headman 
of  the  village  who  died  about  a  year  ago.  His  clothes 
and  blanket,  of  no  further  use,  have  been  spread  over 
the  roof  covering  the  grave,  and  on  the  grave  itself 
are  lying  his  pots  and  baskets  and  drinking  cups. 
In  a  small  dish  some  snuff  has  been  placed. 

His  house  which  was  only  a  few  yards  away  had 
been  destroyed  with  much  ceremony  after  the  death 
of  the  owner,  and  the  site  is  now  heavily  overgrown 
with  castor  oil  plants  and  self-sown  tomatoes.  Not 
far  from  where  his  house  had  been  is  the  tree  at 
the  foot  of  which  he  had  offered  up  sacrifices  to  the 
spirits  of  his  forefathers.  Being  the  chief  of  the 
village  he  was  buried  beside  his  house  and  not  away 
in  the  bush  where  the  common  people  are  laid  to  rest. 
I  asked  the  children  if  they  were  not  afraid  of  this 
grave  in  the  middle  of  the  village,  and  they  said  that 
during  the  day  they  were  not  afraid  because  the  noises 
of  the  village  kept  the  spirits  away.  All  the  time 
we  were  visiting  this  sacred  place  the  old  woman 
with  the  "  pelele  "  was  following  us  at  a  short  distance, 
not  at  all  too  pleased  to  see  us  pry  into  such  places, 
but  too  afraid  to  tell  us  so.  She  v/as  much  relieved 
when  our  steps  were  turned  elsewhere. 

Such  is  the  home  of  the  African  children.  Here 
they  are  born  and  grow  up  and  play  and  laugh  and 
cry  to  their  heart's  content.  It  is  a  careless,  easy 
life  with  nothing  beyond  food  and  clothing  to  be 
interested  in,  and  not  a  thought  for  the  morrow.  But 


32  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


we  are  here  to  give  them  a  new  interest  in  life.  In 
this  large  courtyard  we  gather  all  the  people  of  the 
village  together,  and  with  the  western  sun  shining 
upon  the  little  crowd  we  tell  them  of  Jesus  and  give 
them  something  more  to  talk  about  than  ourselves 
and  our  clothes.  Here  in  the  quiet  of  this  African 
village,  surrounded  by  the  banana  trees,  is  told  once 
more  the  story  of  the  love  of  Jesus.  The  old  woman 
with  the  ring  in  her  lip  says  our  words  are  only  white 
men's  tales,  and  will  go  on  in  her  own  way  teaching 
the  children  the  superstitions  of  her  forefathers. 

The  seed  we  sow  will  not  all  fall  on  stony  places. 
Some  of  it  will  fall  on  good  ground  and  bear  fruit  in 
the  lives  of  these  simple  village  people. 


CHAPTER  VII 

GAMES 

When  black  children  are  small,  the  boys  and  girls 
play  together  ;  but  when  they  grow  up  a  bit  the  boys 
separate  themselves  from  the  girls  and  have  their 
own  games.  They  would  never  dream  now  of  playing 
with  the  girls.  The  latter  are  not  strong  and  brave 
Hke  boys,  and  must  play  by  themselves.  In  this 
respect  they  are  just  hke  white  boys  who  feel  ashamed 
to  play  with  girls. 

One  of  the  boy's  greatest  enjoyments  is  to  go 
hunting  in  the  woods  with  their  bows  and  arrows. 
It  is  small  birds  they  want,  and  their  keen  eyes  scan 
the  leafy  boughs  for  victims  of  any  kind.  It  does  not 
matter  how  small  or  pretty  a  bird  may  be,  down  it 


GAMES 


33 


comes  struck  by  a  heavy-headed  arrow.  Victim  and 
arrow  fall  back  down  at  the  feet  of  the  cunning 
shooter.  The  reason  why  the  boys  kill  even  the 
smallest  bird  is  that  everything,  no  matter  how  small, 
will  be  eaten.  They  do  not  eat  meat  as  white  people  do. 
All  they  want  is  just  enough  to  make  their  porridge 
tasty  and  to  let  them  have  gravy.  So  any  small  animal, 
such  as  you  would  despise,  is  acceptable  to  them. 

Pushing  through  the  bush  is  difhcult  work,  but  the 
black  boys  do  not  seem  to  mind  it  although  the  grass 
towers  far  above  their  heads.  All  they  fear  is,  that 
perhaps  they  may  tread  upon  a  snake  or  disturb 
a  wild  beast,  but  in  the  excitement  of  the  chase  they 
soon  forget  all  about  snakes  and  wild  beasts.  Should 
a  boy  be  very  good  at  imitating  the  call  of  birds  he 
gets  ready  an  arrow  with  many  heads — six  or  seven. 
This  he  makes  by  splitting  up  one  end  of  a  thin  bamboo 
and  sharpening  each  piece.  These  ends  he  ties  in 
such  a  way  as  to  separate  them  from  one  another, 
leaving  one  in  the  middle.  He  then  takes  his  bow 
and  his  newly  made  arrow  and  goes  off  to  the  bush. 
Having  selected  a  likely  spot  he  quickly  pulls  the 
grass  together  loosely  over  his  head  to  hide  him 
from  above,  crouches  under  it  and  begins  to  imitate 
the  call  of  a  certain  bird  of  which  kind  he  sees  many 
about.  In  a  short  time  the  birds  come  hovering 
over  the  grass  concealment,  and  the  boy,  watching 
his  chance,  sends  his  arrow  into  their  midst.  In  this 
way  several  birds  are  obtained  at  a  time. 

Then  the  boys  hunt  small  game,  such  as  rabbits, 
with  their  dogs.  The  dogs  chase  the  rabbits  out  oi 
the  long  grass,  and  the  boys  stand  ready  to  knock 
them  over  with  their  knobbed  sticks.  Another 
favourite  occupation  is  to  go  down  to  the  gardens 
c 


34  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


with  hoes  and  dig  out  field-mice  which  are  rehshed 
just  as  much  as  the  birds  are. 

Traps  of  various  kinds  are  set  to  catch  game. 
Some  are  made  with  propped-up  stones  that  fall 
down  and  crush  the  unwary  victims.  Some  are 
made  with  a  running  noose  that  strangles  the  un- 
fortunate beast.  A  very  simple  kind  for  catching 
birds  is  made  out  of  a  long  bamboo.  A  spot  is  first 
chosen  where  birds  are  likely  to  gather  together 
quickly.  The  bamboo  is  then  split  up  the  middle 
for  about  a  third  of  its  length.  The  ends,  which 
if  left  to  themselves  would  spring  together  with  a 
snap,  are  held  wide  apart  by  a  cross-pin  of  wood. 
To  this  pin  is  attached  a  long  string  which  goes  away 
over  to  the  grass  where  the  youthful  trapper  lies 
hidden.  A  handful  of  grain  is  then  scattered  over 
the  space  between  the  spht  ends  of  the  bamboo. 
When  everything  is  prepared  the  eager  youth  retires 
to  hide  in  the  grass  and  watch  the  birds.  It  is  not 
long  before  several  are  enjoying  the  bait,  and  when 
a  sufficient  number  have  entered,  the  boy  pulls  the 
string  which  displaces  the  cross-pin  and  the  two  ends 
of  the  bamboo  close  together  with  a  snap.  The  poor 
birds  are  not  all  quick  enough  to  escape,  and  several 
lie  dead  to  reward  the  cunning  of  the  trapper.  Such 
doings  you  would  hardly  call  games,  but  so  they  are 
considered  by  the  black  boy,  for  whenever  I  ask 
them  to  tell  me  what  games  they  play  at^  hunting 
and  trapping  are  always  among  those  given  me. 

Of  games  proper,  hand-ball  is  a  great  favourite, 
and  is  played  in  the  courtyard  or  any  other  cleared 
space.  This  is  a  kind  of  ball-play  in  which  two  sides 
contend  against  one  another  for  possession  of  the  ball, 
which  is  usually  just  a  lump  of  raw  rubber.  When 


GAMES 


35 


the  sides  have  been  chosen,  and  it  matters  not  how 
many  a  side  so  long  as  there  are  plenty,  the  game  is 
started  by  a  player  throwing  the  ball  to  another  boy 
on  his  side.  Thus  the  ball  passes  through  the  air  from 
player  to  player,  it  being  the  endeavour  of  the  opposite 
side  to  intercept  it  and  of  the  first  lot  to  retain  pos- 
session of  it.  Every  time  the  ball  is  caught  all  the 
players  with  the  exception  of  him  who  holds  the  ball, 
clap  their  hands  together  once  and  sometimes  stamp 
with  their  feet. 

The  players  may  dodge  about  as  they  like  and  jump 
as  high  as  they  like  in  their  endeavour  to  catch  the 
ball.  It  is  an  excellent  game  and  a  hard  one,  and 
would  be  enjoyed,  I  am  sure,  by  white  boys,  for  no 
lazy  bones  need  ever  think  he  would  get  the  ball. 
Only  he  who  is  quick  of  hand  and  eye  would  ever  get 
a  chance,  and  the  more  clever  the  players,  the  harder 
is  the  game.  After  the  ball  has  gone  round  one  side 
a  certain  number  of  times  the  players  on  that  side 
shout  out  a  little  chorus  and  clap  their  hands  to 
proclaim  their  victory.  Then  the  game  begins 
afresh  and  is  carried  on  with  such  vigour  that  when 
finished  each  boy  is  sweating  freely  and  glad  to 
retire  to  a  cool  place  to  rest. 

A  quiet  game  in  contrast  to  the  hand-ball  is  the 
native  game  of  draughts  in  which  the  opponents 
"  eat  "  one  another  to  use  the  native  expression.  Four 
rows  of  little  holes  are  made  in  a  shady  place.  The 
opponents  sit  on  opposite  sides  and  each  has  com- 
mand of  two  rows.  Sometimes  there  are  six  and  at 
other  times  eight  holes  in  each  row.  Each  player 
has  a  number  of  seeds  or  little  pieces  of  stone  or  other 
small  things,  about  the  size  of  marbles  and  he  places 
one  in  each  hole  leaving  a  certain  one  empty.  Then 


36  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


begin  mysterious  movements  of  taking  out  and  putting 
in.  So  it  seems  to  the  European  at  first.  But  there 
are  rules,  and  the  black  boys  know  them  well.  The 
idea  is  to  move  one's  own  "  men  "  one  hole  along  at 
a  time,  until  those  in  any  hole  surpass  in  number 
those  in  the  enemy's  hole  opposite  when  they  are 
taken  and  placed  out  of  the  game.  The  game  is 
won  when  one  is  able  to  take  the  last  remaining 

man  "  on  his  opponent's  side.  To  the  boys  it  is 
a  very  engrossing  game,  and  they  often  forget  all 
about  time  over  it.  Sometimes  the  holes  are  chiselled 
out  on  a  board  and  the  game  played  by  the  grown- 
up people  on  the  verandah  of  their  houses. 

Quite  a  different  game  from  any  of  those  described 
is  that  played  by  both  boys  and  girls  among  the 
cassava  bushes  in  the  gardens.  When  one  finds  a 
single  leaf  growing  in  a  fork  of  a  bush  he  calls  out 
to  his  neighbour,  "  I  have  bound  you."  The  neighbour 
considers  himself  bound  till  he  finds  a  leaf  in  a  similar 
position,  when  he  calls  out,  "  I  have  freed  myself." 
He  who  first  finds  the  leaf  binds  the  other,  and  so  the 
game  goes  on  till  the  children  are  tired  of  it.  The 
boys  have  another  use  for  the  cassava  leaf.  They 
pluck  a  nice  big  one.  Then  the  left  hand  is  closed 
fist-hke,  but  leaving  a  hollow  in  the  hand.  The  leaf 
is  then  laid  across  the  hollow,  resting  on  the  thumb 
and  the  bent  forefinger.  The  open,  right  hand  is 
now  brought  down  whack  upon  the  leaf,  which  is 
spht  in  two  with  a  loud  report. 

Hide-and-seek  you  all  know.  I  think  it  must  be 
played  by  children  all  over  the  world.  It  is  played 
by  the  black  children  of  Africa  and  enjoyed  very  much. 
There  are  splendid  opportunities  for  hiding  in  the 
long  grass.    You  have  only  to  go  into  it  a  few  feet, 


GAMES 


37 


and  you  are  completely  hidden.  Sometimes  the 
black  children  vary  the  game  from  the  ordinary  hide- 
and-seek.  The  seeker  will  be  a  wild  beast — say  a 
lion — and  the  hiders  will  be  deer.  They  go  off  and 
hide  in  the  grass  and  the  lion  has  to  find  his  prey. 
Sometimes  the  hider  will  represent  a  deer  and  go 
and  conceal  himself,  and  the  seekers  will  be  hunters 
on  the  chase.  Then  if  there  is  water  near  one  will 
hide  in  the  water  and  pretend  to  be  a  crocodile,  and 
when  the  others  come  down  to  the  stream  to  bathe 
or  draw  water  the  crocodile  rushes  out  on  them  and 
tries  to  seize  them  by  the  legs. 

The  boys  also  play  at  war  with  tiny  bows  and  arrows 
made  of  grass  stalks.  They  stand  in  rows  facing  one 
another  and  try  to  "  kill "  one  another  with  their 
arrows. 

There  is  another  good  game  played  by  the  boys 
called  "  nsikwa."  It  has  no  English  name  or  I  would 
have  written  it  instead  of  the  native  one.  There  are 
sides  in  this  game,  but  two  boys  can  play  it.  Of 
course  the  fun  is  better  when  there  are  perhaps  four 
or  five  aside.  The  boys  sit  in  the  courtyard  in  lines 
facing  one  another  and  about  ten  feet  apart.  In 
front  of  each  player  is  placed  a  small  piece  of  maize 
cob  about  two  or  three  inches  high,  from  which  the 
grain  has  been  taken.  It  is  then  very  light  and  easily 
overturned.  In  his  right  hand  each  player  holds  a 
native  top.  When  all  are  ready,  the  players  send 
their  tops  spinning  across  the  clear  space  with  great 
force  and  try  to  knock  down  the  piece  of  maize  cob 
belonging  to  the  player  opposite.  To  and  fro  in  the 
battle  are  whirled  the  tops  to  the  accompaniment  of 
shouts  and  laughter  of  opponents  and  onlookers. 


38  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


Most  of  the  games  I  have  seen  are  boys'  games,  but 
the  girls  of  Africa  can  play  too  Hke  the  girls  of  other 
lands.  But  their  play  mostly  consists  of  trying  to 
do  what  they  see  their  mothers  do.  Thus  the  girls 
will  seize  the  pestles  and  try  to  pound  at  the  mortars. 
Others  will  take  the  winnowing  baskets  and  try  if 
they  can  do  as  well  as  mother  in  sifting  out  the  hard 
grains  from  the  fine  flour.  They  also  play  at  keeping 
house  and  marriages.  They  borrow  pots  and  cooking 
utensils  from  their  mothers  and  go  to  the  bush  and 
build  little  houses  and  make  believe  to  set  up  house 
on  their  own  account.  If  they  play  this  game  in  the 
village  the  girls  mark  out  the  walls  of  the  supposed 
houses  with  sand,  and  say,  Here  is  my  hearth,  there 
is  my  sleeping  place,  and  this  is  the  doorway." 
They  also  make  food  with  mud  and  invite  one  another 
to  afternoon  mud  cakes,  and  pretending  to  eat  them 
throw  the  mud  over  their  shoulders. 

When  the  big  people  of  the  village  go  to  work  in 
the  gardens  the  children  often  go  to  the  bush  and 
build  little  houses  and  bring  flour  and  maize  and  other 
kinds  of  food  and  play  at  a  new  village.  Then  one 
will  be  chosen  to  be  a  hyena  and  another  will  be 
a  cock.  The  hyena  goes  off  to  the  grass  and  hides, 
and  the  cock  struts  about  the  village.  Then  someone 
will  call  out,  It  is  night,  let  us  go  to  sleep."  So 
they  all  go  to  sleep,  and  in  a  short  time  the  cock  will 
crow,  "  Kokohhko,"  which  is  the  felack  boys'  wa}^  of 
saying  "  Cock-a-doodle-do."  The  hyena  will  also 
roar. 

Those  in  the  house  will  awake,  and  one  will  say, 
"  ItHs  daybreak,"  but  others  will  say,  "It  is  only 
that  foohsh  cock  crowing  in  tlie  middle  of  the  night." 
Then  hearing  the  hyena  one  will  get  up,  open  the 


GAMES 


39 


door  cautiously,  and  chase  the  beast  away.  When 
the  big  people  go  back  to  the  village  the  children 
are  not  long  in  following  them. 

Boys  and  girls  also  play  at  funerals.  One  will 
pretend  to  be  dead,  and  the  others  will  gather  round 
in  sorrow  and  mourn  over  the  dead  one  and  Hft  him 
up  with  great  ceremony  and  bear  him  off  for  burial. 
But  if  I  make  this  chapter  any  longer  I  am  afraid 
I  may  tire  you.  Let  me  finish  with  just  one  more 
pastime.  Some  of  the  black  children  play  at  making 
little  animals  out  of  mud,  just  as  white  boys  and  girls 
play  at  mud- pies.  The  African  women  do  not  bake 
pies,  so  the  children  know  nothing  of  the  pleasures 
of  mud-pie  making.  Instead,  they  make  little  mud 
dogs  and  hens  and  lions  and  snakes.  These  they 
put  out  into  the  sun  where  they  get  baked  hard. 
They  can  then  be  carried  about  and  played  with. 

These  games  are  some  of  the  many  played  by 
African  children,  and  I  hope  you  will  hke  reading 
about  them.  If  you  could  only  see  the  black  children 
play  them  in  this  sunny  land  I  am  sure  you  would 
enjoy  it  and  want  to  join  them.  I  have  watched 
them  often,  and  as  often  wished  I  had  a  camera  to 
take  living  pictures  of  African  children  at  play  so  that 
you  children  at  home  might  be  able  to  see  with  your 
own  eyes  something  of  what  I  have  but  feebly  tried 
to  describe  to  you. 


40  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FAIRY  TALES 

All  Africans  are  great  story-tellers.  At  night  round 
the  fire,  when  darkness  covers  the  land  and  the  boys 
appetites  are  appeased,  many  are  the  tales  told. 
Let  me  translate  one  or  two  for  you. 

The  Story  of  Naling'ang'a 

Long  ago  there  Hved  a  man  named  Naling'ang'a. 
He  was  a  very  foohsh  man,  for  he  smoked  bhang,  and 
the  fumes  of  this  deadly  weed  had  run  off  with  all 
his  wisdom.  One  day  the  chief  of  the  village  in 
which  Naling'ang'a  lived  ordered  all  the  people  into 
his  gardens  to  hoe  for  him,  so  that  the  maize  might 
not  "  walk  "  with  the  grass — that  it,  might  not  be 
overgrown. 

All  the  people  obeyed  the  chief's  words  and  went 
early  in  the  morning  to.  the  gardens,  followed  by  the 
chief  himself.  But  Naling'ang'a  Hngered  on  in  the 
village  to  have  a  morning  pipe  of  his  favourite  bhang. 
Afterwards,  when  all  the  people  were  already  in  the 
gardens  hoeing  away  under  the  eye  of  the  chief, 
Naling'ang'a  came  on  alone.  On  his  way  he  crossed 
over  a  stream  and  arrived  at  the  plain  near  which 
were  the  chief's  gardens. 

Lying  on  the  side  of  the  path  was  an  old  skull 
that  had  been  there  for  many  a  day,  and  which 
Naling'ang'a  had  often  passed.  But  to-day,  because 
he  had  been  smoking  bhang,  he  was  annoyed  at  it, 
and  took  the  handle  of  his  hoe  and  struck  the  skull, 


FAIRY  TALES 


41 


saying,  "  Tell  me,  what  killed  you  ?  "  To  his  horror 
the  skull  moved,  and  said,  "  My  tongue  killed  me." 

Poor  Naling'ang'a  was  dreadfully  afraid,  and  his 
knees  shook  under  him  hearing  this  dead  thing  speak 
so.  But  he  plucked  up  courage  and  struck  it  again 
to  see  if  it  was  really  true,  and  again  the  skull  spoke 
the  same  words.  Being  unable  to  stand  it  any  longer, 
for  his  courage  at  this  second  exhibition  had  deserted 
him,  he  turned  and  fled  as  fast  as  his  tottering  legs 
could  carry  him  to  where  the  people  were  digging 
in  the  chief's  gardens,  and  lost  no  time  in  telHng  his 
story. 

At  first  the  people  refused  to  believe  him,  but 
because  of  his  earnestness  and  his  frightened  condi- 
tion the  chief  ordered  all  the  people  to  stop  hoeing, 
and  follow  him  back  to  the  plain  where  he,  the  chief, 
would  himself  see  this  wonderful  thing.  Arrived 
at  the  spot  the  people  stood  round  about  in  a 
frightened  circle  with  Naling'ang'a  and  the  chief 
in  the  centre.  Naling'ang'a  was  brave  now  because 
of  the  crowd  of  people  and,  Hfting  his  hoe,  struck  the 
poor  skull  a  violent  blow,  saying,  "  Tell  me,  what 
killed  you  ?  "  But  the  skull  answered  not  a  word. 
Again  and  again  he  struck  it  and  demanded  it  to  tell, 
but  never  a  word  spoke  it. 

The  people  saw  now  that  they  had  been  deceived, 
and  the  chief  was  mad  with  rage  at  having  been  made 
appear  foolish  before  the  eyes  of  the  people  and  at 
the  loss  of  time  from  the  hoeing.  So  he  ordered 
poor  Nahng'ang'a  to  be  put  to  death  there  and  then, 
and  his  head  to  be  cut  off  and  thrown  beside  the 
skull  as  a  warning  to  all  to  speak  the  truth. 

When  the  execution  was  over  and  the  people  had 
all  departed  the  skull  turned  round  to  poor  Naling'- 


42  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


ang'a's  head,  and  said,  "  My  friend,  Naling'ang'a,  tell 
me,  what  killed  you  ?  "  And  Naling'ang'a  replied, 
My  tongue."  "  As  with  me,"  said  the  skull,  "  my 
tongue  caused  a  great  quarrel  and  the  people  killed 
me." 

The  Story  of  the  Freeman  and  his  Slaves 

There  was  a  freeman  that  had  many  slaves  and 
he  went  with  them  on  a  journey.  When  they  were 
on  the  journey  the  slaves  sent  the  freeman,  saying, 
"  Go  for  water."  But  he  refused,  and  the  slaves 
themselves  went  and  drew  water.  WTien  they  re- 
turned with  the  w^ater  the  freeman  said,  "  Give  me 
some  water  to  drink."  But  the  slaves  refused, 
saying,  "  We  don't  want  you  to  drink  our  water. 
Go  to  the  well  and  draw  water  for  yourself."  So 
the  freeman  had  to  go  to  the  well  himself.  When  he 
was  about  to  drink,  the  slaves  pushed  him  into  the 
water  and  killed  him.  But  a  drop  of  blood  leapt 
upwards  and  fell  on  a  leaf  of  a  tree,  and  thereupon 
became  a  bird  and  sang  : — 

"  Ku  !  Ku  !  Ku  !  " 

The  slaves  got  ready  for  their  journey,  but  the  bird 
went  before  them  and  came  to  the  village,  and  said. 

They  killed  me.  Make  beer  when  the  strangers 
come."  When  the  slaves  entered  the  house  to  drink 
the  beer  the  people  set  fire  to  the  house  and  burned 
them. 

The  Story  of  the  Children  and  the  Serpent 

There  was  a  certain  man  that  hoed  his  garden,  and 
said,  *'  Now  that  I  have  hoed  my  garden,  what  shall 
I  do  ?    These  children  finish  the  food  in  the  garden." 


FAIRY  TALES 


43 


Then  he  went  to  look  for  bark  and  made  a  rope  out 
of  it  and  put  it  into  the  garden.  When  the  children 
said,  "  Let  us  steal,"  the  rope  became  a  serpent  that 
drove  off  the  children,  who  ran  to  the  village,  and 
said,  "  Father,  in  the  garden  yonder  there  is  a  snake." 
And  he  said,  "  Let  us  go  there  and  see."  When  they 
came  to  the  garden  the  father  said,  "  Look  now, 
that  is  a  rope.  You  thought  it  was  a  snake.  Is  it 
that  you  were  stealing  the  maize  ?  You  must  never 
do  so  again." 

Such  are  African  fairy  tales,  but  there  is  a  very 
great  difference  between  a  written  story  and  one  told 
by  word  of  mouth.  The  teller  stands  up  and,  with 
hands  going  and  eyes  rolling  and  body  bending 
backwards  and  forwards,  imitates  whatever  birds 
or  beasts,  their  calls  and  their  cries,  there  are  in  his 
tale.  At  intervals  he  sings  out  a  line  or  two  of  chorus, 
which  is  taken  up  by  the  audience  and  sung  with  great 
delight.  Many  additions  are  made  in  the  spoken 
tale,  and  the  written  one  is  but  the  shadow  of  the 
other. 

CHAPTER  IX 

ANIMAL  STORIES 

Now  let  me  get  you  a  few  animal  stories  of  which  I 
am  sure  there  must  be  hundreds  stored  up  in  the 
hearts  of  the  black  boys  and  girls.  Where  they  learn 
them  I  know  not,  but  they  all  seem  to  be  able  to  tell 
stories.  I  really  do  believe  they  are  born  with  them 
in  their  hearts  all  ready  for  the  telling. 

Among  the  animals,  strange  to  say,  the  rabbit  is 


44  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


considered  the  cunning  one.  White  children  are 
accustomed  to  hear  of  the  sly  fox  who  said  the  grapes 
were  sour ;  his  place  in  Africa  is  taken  by  Mr  Rabbit. 
Many  are  the  tricks  he  plays  on  animals  big  and 
small,  and  even  on  people.  The  foolish  animal  is 
the  hyena,  and  on  him  very  often  falls  the  punish- 
ment that  ought  to  be  borne  by  the  cunning  rabbit. 

The  Story  of  the  Rabbit  and  the  Elephant 

A  rabbit  made  friends  with  an  elephant,  and  they 
agreed  together  to  hoe  a  large  garden.  While  they 
were  busy  hoeing,  the  head  of  the  rabbit's  hoe  fell  out, 
and  as  he  could  not  see  a  stone  on  which  to  knock 
his  hoe,  he  was  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to  do.  Sud- 
denly a  good  plan  entered  his  head,  and,  turning  to 
the  elephant,  he  said,  "  Friend  Elephant,  let  me 
knock  in  my  hoe  on  your  head."  The  elephant 
agreed,  and  the  hoe  was  knocked  in  by  the  rabbit. 
Then  they  went  on  hoeing  again.  Not  long  after 
the  head  of  the  elephant's  hoe  fell  off.  So,  turning 
to  the  rabbit,  he  said,  "  Friend  Rabbit,  let  me  knock 
in  my  hoe  on  your  head."  But  the  rabbit,  being 
afraid  that  the  elephant  would  kill  him,  refused  and 
ran  off.  On  his  way  he  met  a  hyena,  who  asked 
him  why  he  was  running  at  such  a  break-neck  speed. 
"  Ah  !  "  replied  the  rabbit,  "  the  elephant  has  much 
meat  in  the  garden  yonder.  Go  to  him  and  you 
will  be  sure  to  get  a  bit.  I  am  running  to  get  a  knife 
to  cut  it  up."  When  the  elephant  saw  the  hyena 
coming,  he  thought  it  was  still  the  rabbit  who  had 
"  bewitched  "  himself  to  be  Hke  another  beast.  So  he 
caught  him  and  killed  him. 


ANIMAL  STORIES 


45 


The  Story  of  the  Rabbit  and  the 
Hippopotamus 

A  rabbit,  going  down  to  the  river  to  drink,  met  a 
hippopotamus  and  began  to  speak  to  him.  Not  far 
away  was  an  elephant  feeding  on  the  trees  near  the 
bank  of  the  river.  "  Come,  let  us  try  our  strength," 
said  the  rabbit  to  the  hippopotamus,  you  try  to 
pull  me  into  the  water  and  I  shall  try  to  pull  you  to 
the  bank,  and  whoever  is  pulled  over  must  pay  the 
other."  But  the  hippopotamus  would  not  listen 
to  such  a  proposal  and  laughed,  saying,  "  Why  should 
I  waste  time  pulling  with  a  creature  so  small  as  you  ?  " 
But  the  rabbit  urged  him  very  much  to  have  a  try, 
so  at  last  he  consented.  Then  the  rabbit  went  off 
to  find  a  rope,  but  in  passing  the  elephant,  who  was 
feeding  quietly,  he  challenged  him  to  a  similar  trial  of 
strength,  but  this  time  the  rabbit  was  to  try  to  pull 
the  elephant  into  the  water.  Like  the  hippopotamus, 
the  elephant  at  first  refused.  But  in  the  end  he 
consented.  So  the  rabbit  gave  him  one  end  of  the 
rope,  saying  that  he  would  go  down  into  the  water 
and  begin  to  pull.  When  he  reached  the  river,  how- 
ever, he  gave  the  other  end  of  the  rope  to  the  hippo- 
potamus, saying  he  would  now  run  back  and  begin  to 
pull.  Then  the  rabbit,  pretending  to  go  to  pull  his  end 
of  the  rope,  slyly  lay  down  in  the  grass  and  w^atched. 
Then  the  two  great  animals  began  to  pull  and  tug 
against  one  another  but  neither  could  pull  the  other 
over,  and  all  the  time  the  rabbit  lay  laughing  in  the 
grass.  All  day  the  great  beasts  heaved  and  tugged  at 
the  rope.  About  sunset,  quite  worn  out,  they  gave  up 
the  tug-of-war.  The  rabbit  ran  to  the  river  bank 
where  the  hippopotamus  was  standing  exhausted 


46  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


half  out  of  the  water  with  the  sand  all  trampled 
round  about.  "  Well,"  said  the  rabbit,  "  how  did 
I  pull  ?  "  The  poor  hippopotamus  had  to  own  up 
that  he  was  beaten  and  agreed  to  pay.  Thereupon 
the  rabbit  ran  to  where  the  elephant  still  panted 
amidst  trampled  grass  and  brushwood,  and  said, 
"  Well,  how  did  I  pull  ?  "  The  elephant  also  had  to 
own  defeat  and  agreed  to  pay.  Thus  was  the  rabbit 
made  rich  in  a  single  day. 

The  Story  of  the  Rabbit  and  the  Lion  Cubs 

A  rabbit  once  wanted  to  wear  a  lion's  skin,  so  he 
said,  "  Where  shall  I  find  one  ?  "  But  his  friends 
said,  "  You  don't  mean  it.  The  lion  is  a  fearful 
animal."  But  the  rabbit  said,  I  shall  deceive  it." 
So  he  went  to  a  lion's  den  where  there  were  cubs, 
stood  in  the  courtyard,  and  clapped  his  hands.  The 
lioness  came  out  and  received  his  salutation  and 
said,  "  Well,  what  ?  "  And  the  rabbit  replied,  "  I 
have  come  to  stay."  So  the  lioness  said,  "  Pass 
into  the  house  there  and  take  care  of  the  children. 
Remain  with  them,  and  I  myself  shall  go  to  kill  game." 
Then  she  went  away  to  kill  game.  Not  long  after- 
wards the  lioness  came  back  and  stood  in  the  path 
and  called  out,  saying,  Rabbit."  And  the  rabbit 
said,  "  Here  I  am."  And  she  said,  Take  this  meat. 
Are  all  the  children  well  ?  "    And  the  rabbit  replied, 

Yes,  they  are  all  well."  "  All  right,"  said  the 
honess,  "  bring  them  that  I  may  see  them."  So 
the  rabbit  brought  them,  and  said,  This  is  one,  this 
is  another,  and  this  another."  In  all  there  were 
three.  Quite  pleased,  the  honess  said,  "  Take  the 
meat  and  give  it  them."    The  rabbit  went  and  re- 


ANIMAL  STORIES 


47 


ceived  the  meat,  but  ate  it  all  himself  and  the  children 
got  none.  Then  the  Honess  went  off  to  kill  more 
meat.  When  she  had  gone  the  rabbit  took  one  child, 
killed  it,  took  off  its  skin,  and  went  away  to  hide  it. 
The  lioness  soon  returned,  bringing  more  game,  and 
said,  "  Are  the  children  well  ?  "  Bring  them  that 
I  may  see  them."  So  the  rabbit  brought  them,  saying, 
"  This  is  one,  this  is  another,  and  this  another,"  but 
one  he  brought  twice.  Again,  well  pleased,  the  lioness 
went  away  for  more  game,  and  the  rabbit  killed  another 
cub,  took  off  its  skin,  and  went  away  and  hid  it.  In 
the  evening  the  lioness  again  returned,  bringing  meat, 
and  said,  "  Are  the  children  all  well  ?  "  As  usual 
the  rabbit  replied,  "  Yes,  they  are  all  well."  So  he 
showed  the  lioness  the  same  cub  three  times,  and  said, 
This  is  one,  this  is  another,  and  this  another."  Again, 
well  pleased,  the  Honess  said,  "  Take  this  meat  and 
give  it  them."  But  the  rabbit  ate  it  all,  and  after- 
wards killed  the  cub  that  was  left,  skinned  it,  and 
went  off  to  hide  the  skin.  Then,  afraid  of  the  return 
of  the  lioness,  he  went  to  get  string.  Next  he  cut 
a  small  slave  stick  and  tied  himself  by  the  neck. 
Then  he  twisted  cords  and  tied  his  legs  and  bound 
himself  to  the  stick  again,  and  with  another  cord 
tied  his  arms.  Then  he  made  a  great  noise,  and  called 
out,  "  War  !  War  !  War  against  the  lion.  War  !  " 
The  Honess  came  bounding  back,  and  said,  "  What  is 
the  matter  ?  "  So  the  rabbit  said,  "  The  children 
are  all  taken,  the  soldiers  carried  them  off."  And 
the  lioness  demanded,  Soldiers  from  where  ?  " 
And  the  rabbit  said,  "  I  don't  know.  Untie  me." 
The  lioness  set  about  untying,  and  the  rabbit  said, 
"  Wait  for  me,  I  shall  go  in  search  of  them."  So 
the  rabbit  went  away  and  found  monkeys  spinning 


48  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


their  tops,  saying,  Go  !  Go !  "  But  the  rabbit 
said,  "  Yes,  nonsense,  but  you  should  say,  *  I  have 
killed  a  lion  and  taken  off  his  skin.'  "  The  monkeys 
said, Yes,  very  good,"  and  the  rabbit  left  the  monkeys 
repeating  these  words.  He  himself  went  back  and 
met  the  lioness,  and  said,  "  The  children  were  killed 
by  these  monkeys."  So  the  honess  said,  "  Deceive 
them,  saying  that  we  will  do  trade  in  tops."  So  the 
rabbit  went  back  to  the  monkeys,  and  said,  "  Let  us 
deal  in  these  tops."  So  they  said,  "  With  what 
goods  ?  "  And  the  rabbit  said,  "  With  beans."  Then 
the  monkeys  said,  Well,  bring  them  that  we  may 
buy."  So  the  rabbit  went  back  and  told  all  to  the 
honess,  who  said,  Weave  a  basket  and  tie  me  into 
it."  And  the  rabbit  wove  a  basket,  tied  in  the  lioness, 
and  put  a  few  beans  on  top,  lifted  the  basket,  and 
departed.  When  he  arrived  at  their  courtyard  he 
found  the  monkeys  spinning  their  tops.  So  he 
called  out,  ''I  have  brought  that  merchandise." 
And  they  replied,  "  We  shall  buy  it."  Just  then  a 
monkey  sent  his  top  spinning,  saying,  "  I  have  killed 
a  lion's  cub  and  have  taken  off  its  skin."  So  the 
rabbit  whispered  to  the  lioness,  "  Listen,  those  fellows 
killed  the  children ;  "  then  to  the  monkeys,  "  Let  us 
go  and  sell  in  this  house."  Then  the  rabbit  took 
a  knife  and  cut  the  ropes  that  held  the  lioness,  who 
sprang  out  upon  the  poor  monkeys  and  killed  them 
all.  But  the  rabbit  went  for  his  skins  and  took  them 
home  and  wore  them. 


The  Story  of  the  Tortoise  and  the  Monkey 

Once  a  tortoise  and  a  monkey  made  friends,  and 
the  monkey  said  to  the  tortoise,  "  Friend  Tortoise, 


FINGER  RHYMES  AND  RIDDLES  49 


come  to  my  home  and  visit/'  So  the  tortoise  went 
and  the  monkey  cooked  food  for  him,  but,  wishing 
to  play  a  trick  on  him,  placed  it  on  a  high  platform 
which  the  tortoise  could  not  possibly  reach  up  to. 
Then  he  called  the  tortoise,  saying,  "  Friend  Tortoise, 
go  into  the  house  and  eat."  When  the  tortoise  went 
in  expecting  a  feast  he  found  the  food  so  high  up 
that  he  could  not  reach  it.  So  he  came  out  very 
angry,  and  said,  "  Friend  Monkey,  you  have  been 
insolent  to  me."  So  he  went  home,  and  brooded  over 
the  insult  for  three  days.  Then  he  sent  a  messenger 
to  invite  the  monkey  to  his  home,  saying  to  himself, 
"  Yon  monkey  was  cheeky  to  me,  I  also  will  be  cheeky 
to  him."  So  when  the  monkey  came  he  found  food 
already  cooked  and  eyed  it  greedily.  But  the  tortoise 
said,  "  Friend  Monkey,  there  is  no  water  in  the  house, 
go  down  to  the  stream  and  wash  your  hands."  So 
the  monkey  went  down  through  the  burned  grass 
and  washed  his  hands  in  anticipation  of  the  feast. 
But  in  coming  back  from  the  stream  he  had  to  pass 
again  through  the  burned  grass  and  his  hands  were  as 
black  as  ever.  So  seeing  through  the  tortoise's 
cunning  he  got  angry,  and  said,  "  My  friend  has  played 
a  trick  on  me,  "  and  departed  to  his  own  home. 


CHAPTER  X 

FINGER  RHYMES  AND  RIDDLES 

Now  I  have  told  you  four  African  tales  of  animals, 
and  perhaps  you  are  tired  of  such  stories.  If,  however, 
I  can  remember  a  very  good  one  before  I  am  finished 
writing  to  you  I  shall  put  it  into  this  chapter. 

D 


50  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


Let  me  now  tell  you  about  the  black  boys  and  girls' 
riddles,  and  there  are  one  or  two  nursery  rhymes  that 
I  know  of.  I  am  sure  you  would  like  to  hear  them, 
so  I  shall  write  them  down  for  you  as  they  are  spoken 
here,  and  then  translate  them  for  you.  Here  is  one 
of  them  : — 

"  Uyu  ndi  mtecheteche, 

Uyu  ndi  mpwache  wa  mteche, 
Uyu  ndi  mkala  pakati, 
Uyu  ndi  mkomba  mbale, 
Uyu  ndi  chitsiru  chache, 
Tikumenya  ivve  :  Go  !  Go  ! " 

Can  you  guess  what  this  is  all  about  ?  You  have  a 
rhyme  that  means  just  the  same.  Well  this  is  what 
these  funny  words  mean  : — 

"  This  is  the  shaky  little  finger, 
This  is  his  younger  brother, 
This  is  the  one  in  the  middle, 
This  is  the  plate-scraper, 
This  is  an  old  fool, 
I  beat  you  thus  :  Go  !  Go  !  " 

It  is  you  see  an  African  finger  rhyme.  You  have 
all  one  of  your  own,  but  I  am  sure  in  it  you  never 
call  your  fore-finger  a  plate-scraper,  nor  your  thumb 
an  old  fool.  But  if  you  had  to  eat  without  spoons 
and  knives  and  forks,  and  wanted  to  make  your  plate 
very  clean  you  would  have  to  use  your  fore-finger 
a  good  deal,  and  you  would  then  understand  why 
the  black  children  call  it  a  plate-scraper. 

This  is  another  finger  rhyme  for  counting  up  all 
the  fingers  : — 


FINGER  RHYMES  AND  RIDDLES  51 


"  Mbewa  zagwa  ; 
Zagweranji  ? 

Zagwera  mapira  ; 
Ndikazikumbe  ; 
Ndiopa  uluma. 

"  Mzanga  Likongwa, 
Ali  kukaku  ; 

Amanga  mpanda  ; 
Ndikamtandize  ; 
Wata  Kale." 

This  is  the  EngHsh  for  it  : 

"  The  mice  have  fallen  ; 
Why  have  they  fallen  ? 

They  have  fallen  for  the  millet  ; 
I  go  dig  them  ; 
I  fear  to  be  bitten. 

"  My  friend  Mr  Weasel, 

He  is  at  the  chief's  house; 
He  builds  a  fence  ; 
I  go  help  him  ; 
He's  finished  long  ago." 

Then  about  guesses.  I  have  tried  to  pick  out  one 
or  two  just  to  let  you  hear  what  Hke  they  are.  Many 
of  the  answers  to  riddles  I  have  heard  seemed  to  me 
to  have  little  or  no  point  in  them.  So  it  is  with  the 
stories.  But  when  I  have  failed  to  see  the  joke  and 
have  not  laughed  the  black  boys  have  not  failed.  They 
have  their  own  funny  stories  and  laugh  at  them 
heartily.  But  our  jokes  they  do  not  understand, 
nor  do  they  play  pranks  on  one  another  as  white 
boys  do.  Let  me  try  to  tell  you  how  you  can  make 
black  boys  and  girls  roar  with  laughter,  and  yet  to 
a  white  man  there  is  nothing  to  laugh  about.  If 
you  are  telhng  them  about  people  scattering  helter- 


52  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


skelter  and  say  that  the  people,  "  naUmenya,"  which 
means  go  off  helter-skelter,  the  boys  will  go  into  fits 
of  laughter.  Now  I  can  see  nothing  to  laugh  at  in 
this,  and  I  am  sure  you  can't  either,  and,  if  another 
word  had  been  used,  neither  would  the  black  boy. 
But  here  is  the  peculiar  thing.  It  is  the  "li"  in  the 
middle  of  the  word  that  makes  it  funny  to  African 
children  here. 

"  Menya  "  means  "  beat/'  but  "  /zmenya  "  means 
"  run  off  helter-skelter."  Again  "  Sesa "  means 
"  sweep,"  but  "  /zsesa "  means  run  off  helter- 
skelter  ;  "  and  so  on  with  a  lot  of  other  words,  the 
addition  of  the  syllable  "  li  "  makes  them  change 
their  meanings  entirely,  and  become  "  run  off  helter- 
skelter,"  and  so  very  funny  that  black  boys  and 
girls  cannot  keep  from  laughing.  Now  for  the 
guesses  : — 

"  What  is  yonder  and  here  at  the  same  time  ? " 
A7tswer — A  shadow. 

"  I  built  a  house  with  one  post." 

Answer — A  mushroom. 

"It  goes  yonder  yet  remains  here." 

A7iswer — A  belt. 

"  I  had  a  big  garden,  yet  got  no  food  from  it." 

Answer — The  hair  of  the  head. 

"  I  built  my  house  without  any  door." 

Answer — An  egg. 

"  My  hen  laid  an  egg  among  thorns." 

Answer — The  tongue  and  the  teeth. 

I  think  you  will  understand  these  answers  to  the 
above  guesses,  but  what  do  you  think  of  this  one  ? 

"  In  my  mother's  house  there  is  money." 

Answer — Baldness. 


FINGER  RHYMES  AND  RIDDLES  5S 


I  am  certain  you  and  I  would  never  have  thought 
of  such  an  answer. 

Here  are  one  or  two  of  their  proverbs  : — 

"  Sleep  knows  no  friendship,  has  no  favourite." 
"  If  your  neighbour's  beard  takes  fire,  quench  it  ;" 

which  latter  means — 

"  Help  your  neighbour  now,  for  some  day  you  may  need  help." 

By  means  of  these  guesses  the  African  children  while 
away  the  time  and  amuse  themselves  on  wet  days 
or  on  cold  nights  round  the  fire  by  asking  them  from 
one  another.  Now  let  me  close  this  chapter  by  telling 
you  the  story  of 

The  Rabbit,  the  Lion,  and  the  Wild  Pig 

There  was  once  a  lion  that  knew  all  about  medicine. 
He  did  a  good  trade  with  people  who  came  to  buy 
it.  One  day  some  people  from  a  far  country  came 
and  begged  him  to  come  with  them  to  heal  their 
sick.  So  the  lion  agreed,  and  set  about  to  get  a  servant 
to  carry  his  bundle  on  the  journey.  Finding  a  wild 
pig  near,  he  called  him,  saying,  "  Come,  friend  Pig, 
will  you  go  on  that  journey  ?  "  and  the  pig  agreed. 
So  the  lion  gave  him  the  load  to  carry. 

When  they  were  on  the  way  the  lion  said  to  the 
pig,  "  Look  there.  Master  Pig,  that  is  the  medicine 
for  porridge.  If  they  make  porridge  for  us  at  the 
end  of  our  journey  you  must  run  and  get  some  of 
these  leaves."  The  pig  said,  "  All  right,"  and  they 
went  on  their  journey. 

While  they  were  passing  another  bush  the  lion  said 
again,  "  Look  there,  Master  Pig,  that  is  the  medicine 


54  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


for  rice.  If  they  make  rice  you  must  run  and  get 
some  of  these  leaves."  The  pig  again  said  /'All  right," 
and  they  continued  their  journey. 

When  they  reached  the  village  of  the  sick  people 
the  lion  and  pig  were  well  received.  In  the  evening 
porridge  was  cooked  for  them,  and  the  Hon  said  to 
the  pig,  "  Master  Pig,  go  and  get  yon  leaves."  So 
Master  Pig  ran  off  to  get  the  leaves.  When  he  came 
back  with  them  he  found  that  the  hon  had  finished 
all  the  porridge.  So  that  night  Master  Pig  went  to 
bed  hungry.  Next  evening  the  people  cooked  rice, 
and  the  lion  said  to  the  pig,  "  Master  Pig,  go  and 
get  yon  leaves  ;  "  and  Master  Pig  set  off  in  a  hurry 
to  bring  the  leaves.  But  when  he  got  back,  all  puffing 
and  blowing,  he  found  that  the  lion  had  just  finished 
the  rice,  and  he  had  to  go  hungry  to  bed. 

Next  day  they  returned  home,  and  the  poor  pig 
arrived  at  his  village  in  a  famished  condition,  to  the 
great  sorrow  of  his  wife  and  children. 

Not  long  afterwards  other  people  came  requesting 
the  services  of  Dr  Lion  to  heal  their  sick,  and  he 
agreed  to  go. 

Looking  around  for  a  carrier  he  spied  the  rabbit,  and 
said,  "  Come,  friend  Rabbit,  will  you  go  on  that 
journey  ?  "  and  the  rabbit  agreed.  So  the  Hon  gave 
him  his  load  to  carry. 

When  they  were  on  the  way  the  hon  said  to  the 
rabbit,  "  Master  Rabbit,  do  you  see  that  bush  ?  That 
is  the  medicine  for  porridge.  If  they  make  porridge 
for  us  at  the  village  you  must  run  and  get  these 
leaves."  "  All  right,"  said  the  rabbit,  and  they 
continued  their  journey.  But  they  had  not  gone 
far  when  the  rabbit  stopped,  and  said,  "  Where  is  my 
knife ;  I  must  have  left  it  where  we  rested.    Let  me 


FINGER  RHYMES  AND  RIDDLES  65 


run  back  to  get  it."  "  All  right,"  said  the  lion, 
"  don't  be  long."  So  the  rabbit  ran  back,  pulled 
some  leaves  from  the  medicine  bush,  and  hid  them 
in  the  load.  When  he  reached  the  lion  they  resumed 
their  journey.  Soon  the  lion  stopped  again  at  another 
bush,  and  said,  "  Master  Rabbit,  do  you  see  that  bush  ? 
That  is  medicine  for  rice.  If  they  cook  rice  for  us 
at  the  village  you  must  run  and  get  these  leaves." 
The  rabbit  said,  "  All  right,"  and  they  went  on  their 
way. 

But  in  a  short  time  the  rabbit  stopped,  and  said, 
"  Where  is  my  knife  ?  I  must  have  left  it  where 
we  rested.  Let  me  run  back  for  "it."  The  lion  was 
very  angry  this  time,  and  said,  ''What  kind  of  a  servant 
are  you,  always  losing  your  knife  ?  Don't  be  long." 
So  the  rabbit  ran  back  not  to  find  his  knife  but  to 
pull  the  medicine  leaves  for  rice,  which  he  hid  in  his 
bundle.  When  he  made  up  on  the  lion  again  they 
continued  their  journey  and  soon  arrived  at  the 
village. 

In  the  evening  porridge  was  cooked  for  the  visitors, 
and  the  lion  said  to  the  rabbit,  "  Master  Rabbit,  go 
and  get  yon  leaves."  So  the  rabbit  untied  his  bundle 
and  produced  the  leaves.  The  lion  was  so  angry  at 
seeing  the  leaves  thus  produced  that  he  could  not  eat 
a  bite,  and  the  rabbit  had  all  the  porridge  to  himself. 
Next  evening  rice  was  cooked  for  them,  and  the  Hon 
said  to  the  rabbit,  "  Master  Rabbit,  go  for  yon  leaves." 
But  the  rabbit  again  just  opened  his  load  and  pro- 
duced the  leaves,  and  the  lion  was  so  sick  and  angry 
that  he  could  not  touch  the  rice,  which  the  rabbit 
ate  all  to  himself. 

Next  day  they  started  on  their  homeward  journey, 
and  the  first  night  slept  in  the  same  house,  the  lion 


56  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


in  a  bed,  the  rabbit  on  a  piece  of  bark.  During  the 
night  the  rabbit  said  out  aloud,  "  He  who  sleeps  on 
bark  will  be  fresh  for  his  journey  in  the  morning, 
but  he  who  sleeps  in  a  bed  will  walk  heavily  and 
with  pain."  The  lion  on  hearing  this  got  out  of  bed, 
saying,  You  little  one,  get  off  that  bark,  I  myself 
will  sleep  there."  So  they  changed  sleeping  places. 
In  the  middle  of  the  night  the  rabbit  got  up  and  lit 
a  fire  while  the  Hon  slept.  The  heat  of  the  fire  soon 
caused  the  bark  to  shrivel  up  and  tightly  enclose 
the  sleeping  giant.  Then  the  rabbit  ran  off  home 
and  left  him. 

In  the  morning  great  roars  were  heard  coming 
from  the  house  and  the  people,  wondering  what  had 
befaUen  Dr  Lion,  rushed  in  and  found  him  struggling 
to  free  himself.  With  their  axes  they  soon  had  him 
out,  and  he  went  home  a  hungry  and  sorrowful  beast. 
When  his  wife  and  children  saw  him  looking  so  thin, 
they  set  up  a  great  crying. 

And  so  people  who  beheve  that  they  are  very  clever, 
will  soon  find  others  more  clever  than  they.  The 
lion  thought  himself  very  cunning  when  he  deceived 
the  poor  pig,  but  he  found  the  rabbit  too  much  for 
him. 


CHAPTER  XI 

FOOD  AND  ORNAMENTS 

The  principal  dish  of  the  African  is  a  kind  of  maize 
porridge  made  rather  thick,  so  as  to  hold  together 
in  lumps.  It  is  for  flour  to  make  this  porridge  that 
the  women  are  continually  pounding  at  the  mortars. 


FOOD  AND  ORNAMENTS  57 


The  porridge  is  always  eaten  with  something  tasty 
to  send  it  down,  and  is  never  eaten  without  this 
reUsh.  Now  this  reHsh  may  be  simply  juicy  leaves 
got  in  the  bush  and  boiled  as  we  boil  cabbage,  or 
it  may  be  meat  of  some  kind  no  matter  what,  or 
it  may  be  fish  no  matter  how  high,  but  it  is  oftenest 
beans — porridge  and  beans  being  the  everyday  food. 
African  children  have  but  two  regular  meals  in  the 
day  and  the  porridge  one  is  the  afternoon  meal. 
The  forenoon  one  may  be  made  of  sweet  potatoes, 
or  green  maize  or  pumpkins,  or  cucumbers — anything 
that  does  not  require  much  cooking  on  the  part  of  the 
mothers.  But  from  early  morning  onwards  the 
children  always  have  an  eye  for  anything  that  will 
help  to  appease  their  hunger. 

Thus  the  boys  go  off  early  with  their  bows  and 
arrows  to  shoot  birds,  or  they  may  go  digging  for 
field  mice,  or  setting  traps  for  any  small  kind  of 
animal  that  may  be  foolish  enough  to  enter  them. 
These  little  creatures  are  skinned  and  roasted,  spitted 
on  bamboos,  and  kept  ready  for  porridge  time.  At 
certain  seasons  of  the  year  a  kind  of  caterpillar  is 
gathered  to  be  roasted  to  make  relish.  I  have  seen 
children  with  their  hands  full  of  yellow-green  crawl- 
ing things  as  proud  as  if  they  had  been  a  handful 
of  sweets.  Then  when  the  sky  is  dark  with  locusts 
the  children  are  glad.  Knowing  the  locusts  cannot 
fly  till  the  sun  has  warmed  them,  the  boys  and  girls 
go  out  early  in  the  morning  and  gather  baskets  full 
of  them.  The  legs  and  wings  are  torn  off  and  the 
bodies  roasted.  Then  again  at  the  time  when  the 
winged  white  ants  are  issuing  forth  from  underground 
to  fly  off  and  make  another  home,  the  cunning  children 
place  a  pot  over  the  hole  and  catch  hundreds.  These 


58  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


also  they  roast  and  consider  delicious.  Their  sweets 
are  very  few — wild  honey  and  sugar-cane.  They  do 
Uke  sugar-cane,  and  tear  it  and  munch  it  with  their 
strong  white  teeth.  It  is  very  sweet  and  not  un- 
pleasant to  chew.  But  a  white  man  must  get  it  cut 
into  little  bits  for  him  before  he  can  enjoy  it.  He 
cannot  eat  it  as  the  black  people  do. 

Some  of  the  tribes  eat  frogs  and  snakes  and  land- 
crabs  and  snails,  but  many  of  them  do  not.  Those 
who  do  not  eat  such  things  look  down  upon  those 
who  do,  and  consider  them  savages  and  altogether 
to  be  despised.  Then  again  in  every  tribe  there  are 
certain  superstitious  customs  as  regards  food.  A 
mother  will  warn  her  child,  saying,  "  My  child,  you 
must  never  eat  rabbit.  If  you  eat  rabbit  your  body 
will  be  covered  with  sores."  So  this  child  wiU  refrain 
from  rabbit,  and  so  on  with  other  kinds  of  meat, 
each  child  has  something  or  other  that  is  forbidden 
to  him. 

I  remember  once,  when  some  boys  of  mine  had  gone 
rabbit-hunting,  asking  a  very  small  boy  who  had  been 
left  behind  if  he  was  looking  forward  to  the  feast 
that  was  to  come  when  the  other  boys  returned,  and 
how  he  would  enjoy  rabbit.  "  I  don't  eat  rabbit," 
he  repKed,  in  a  disconsolate  voice.  I  asked  him 
why.  "  Does  not  everyone,  even  the  white  man,  eat 
rabbit  !  "  "  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  but  my  mother 
forbade  me  to  eat  rabbit,  saying  if  I  did,  I 
would  be  covered  with  itch."  I  advised  him  to 
try  but  he  was  afraid.  Later  on  in  the  day,  towards 
sunset,  after  the  boys  had  returned  from  the  woods. 
I  saw  the  Httle  disconsolate  one  all  smiles.  He  was 
holding  in  his  hand  two  miserable  field  mice,  and 
was  as  happy  as  a  king.    The  other  boys  had  re- 


FOOD  AND  ORNAMENTS  59 


membered  he  did  not  eat  rabbit,  and  had  put  off 
half  an  hour  to  capture  some  mice  for  him  that  he 
might  be  able  to  join  in  the  feast. 

Besides  the  food  from  the  gardens  there  are  many 
bush  fruits  that  the  African  children  eat.  So,  as  far  as 
food  is  concerned,  the  black  boys  and  girls  are  very 
well  off.  They  have  none  of  the  pleasant  things  you  may 
buy  with  your  pennies.  But  then  they  know  nothing 
of  your  nice  things,  and  so  they  do  not  feel  the  want 
of  them.  Give  the  African  child  bananas  and  sugar- 
cane and  ground  nuts,  what  you  call  monkey  nuts, 
I  think,  and  he  is  as  happy  as  you  with  your  toffy 
and  chocolate  and  other  sweets. 

When  a  black  boy  or  girl  gets  up  in  the  morning, 
he  or  she  has  just  a  small  wash.  The  real  wash  comes 
later  on  in  the  day  when  it  is  warmer.  But  they  are 
very  particular  over  their  teeth  and  take  very  good 
care  of  them.  In  keeping  them  clean  they  use  tooth- 
brushes which  they  make  out  of  little  pieces  of  the 
wood  of  a  certain  tree  about  the  length  of  a  lead 
pencil  but  rather  shorter  and  stouter.  One  end  is 
cut  and  cut  into  again  and  again  and  teased  out  till 
it  makes  a  very  good  tooth  brush,  and  with  it  the 
black  boy  keeps  his  teeth  in  good  condition.  Of 
course  it  must  be  easy  for  him,  because  he  can  open 
his  mouth  so  very  wide. 

At  the  real  washing  he  goes  down  to  a  quiet  pool 
and  has  good  fun  in  the  water  with  his  companions. 
I  have  often  come  across  little  groups  of  them,  and, 
of  course,  when  a  white  man  comes  along  the  children 
squat  down  doubled  up  to  try  to  hide  their  nakedness, 
making  themselves  just  like  a  group  of  brown  giant 
frogs.  Their  feet  they  clean  with  broken  pieces  of 
rock,  and,  would  you  believe  it,  the  soles  of  their  feet. 


60  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


and  the  palms  of  their  hands  are  white.  It  is  strange, 
but  so  it  is.  Their  feet,  too,  are  very  large  and  strong 
compared  with  ours,  but  their  hands  are  generally 
very  neat  and  shapely.  On  these  feet  they  can  walk 
mile  after  mile  and  not  feel  tired.  If  a  small  white 
boy  walked  five  miles  on  a  journey  and  five  miles 
back  he  would  boast  of  his  endurance.  But  it  is  a 
common  thing  for  a  small  black  boy  to  walk  twenty 
and  even  thirty  miles  in  a  single  day  and  think  nothing 
about  it.  In  fact,  if  he  could  not  do  it,  he  would  con- 
sider himself  a  weakling. 

Of  course  in  cold  weather  the  children  do  not 
wash  at  all,  and,  in  some  places,  when  the  grown-up 
people  are  not  particular,  the  children  wash  but 
seldom.  But  on  the  whole  they  like  to  be  clean, 
especially  after  having  come  into  contact  with  white 
men,  for  most  white  men  insist  on  the  black  children 
keeping  themselves  clean. 

If  you  had  a  black  woolly  head,  like  those  of  the 
African  children,  how  would  you  do  your  hair  ?  You 
would  find  all  3/our  brushes  useless,  and  your  combs 
would  break  on  the  first  trial.  They  would  not  be 
nearly  strong  enough  to  get  through  the  mass  of  short 
curls.  Have  the  black  children  no  combs  then  ? 
Oh,  yes !  peculiar  combs  they  make,  the  teeth  of 
which  point  out  like  fingers,  and  with  these  they 
comb  their  woolly  pates.  But  it  is  in  arranging 
their  hair  that  they  excel.  One  boy  will  train  a  tuft 
of  hair  over  his  forehead  to  grow  up  Hke  a  horn. 
Another  will  think  he  ought  to  shave  out  bald 
spaces.  Some  cut  the  hair  on  both  sides  and 
leave  a  ridge  in  the  middle  like  a  cock's  comb, 
while  others  tie  the  hair  with  grasses  into  little 
tufts,  and  make  their  heads  Hke  miniature  cabbage 


A  BATHINC  rc^OL 


I 


FOOD  AND  ORNAMENTS  61 


gardens.  And  after  a  death  in  the  family  the  hair 
is  shaved  clean  off  altogether,  and  the  black  boy 
appears  with  a  head  Hke  an  ostrich  egg.  Feathers 
and  sometimes  flowers  are  stuck  into  the  hair  as 
decorations. 

Teeth,  too,  come  in  for  some  attention.  They  are 
not  always  allowed  to  grow  as  nature  wills.  In  some 
of  the  tribes  the  boys  and  girls  teeth  are  filed  by  their 
mothers,  each  tribe  having  its  own  peculiar  way  of 
filing.  Sometimes  all  the  teeth  are  cut  into  Uttle 
notches.  Sometimes  only  the  two  upper  front  ones 
are  done.  But  the  custom  is  dying  out,  and  many 
of  the  children  of  the  present  generation  are  not 
made  to  submit  to  such  an  indignity.  Tattooing  is 
also  practised  by  many  tribes.  Face,  arms,  breast, 
and  back  are  often  done.  Again  difference  of  tribes 
is  shown  by  these  markings.  This  is  how  it  is  per- 
formed. The  cuts  are  first  made  and  allowed  a  day 
or  two  to  heal  partly.  They  are  then  opened  up 
again  and  charcoal  rubbed  in.  The  wounds  are 
then  allowed  to  heal  which  they  do  as  broad  black 
raised- up  lines.  These  tatoo  marks  are  quite  different 
from  what  is  seen  on  some  white  people  at  home. 
They  are  not  drawings,  but  simply  little  Hues,  some 
straight,  some  curved,  done  into  a  certain  tribal 
design. 

In  some  tribes  the  ears  are  pierced  and  the  hole 
made  rather  large.  So  large  are  they  in  some  cases 
that  I  have  seen  a  native  carry  a  roasted  mouse 
hanging  through  his  ear. 

I  have  already  told  you  about  the  ring  in  the  upper 
lip  called  the  "  pelele,"  so  I  shall  not  mention  it 
again.  But  some  of  the  women  who  have  given 
up  the  "  pelele  "  have  taken  to  wearing  a  button  of 


62  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


lead  in  one  side  of  the  nose,  which,  from  our  point  of 
view,  does  not  improve  their  appearance. 

Their  persons  they  adorn  with  anklets  and  bracelets 
of  brass.  But  in  places  where  there  are  plenty  of 
elephants  one  finds  the  girls  wearing  great  ivory 
bracelets  made  from  the  tusks.  All  kinds  of  grass 
bracelets  are  plaited  and  worn  by  young  girls  who 
can't  afford  to  have  better  ones,  and  I  have  some- 
times seen  a  necklace  made  by  stringing  parts  of 
locust's  legs  and  beads  together. 

Of  the  beads  there  is  an  infinite  variety7bought 
from  the  trader.  These  are  strung  together  in  many 
ways  and  made  into  bracelets  and  necklaces  and 
various  other  things  which  only  the  patience  of 
African  children  could  produce. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  African's  belief 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  tell  about  something  alto- 
gether different  from  what  you  have  been  reading. 
We  shall  go  into  the  spirit  land  of  the  African  children, 
and  we  shall  try  to  find  out  something  of  what  they 
believe  about  God. 

In  the  great  black  part  of  Africa  there  are  no 
temples  and  wonderful  gods  to  write  about.  There 
are  no  old  books  to  be  found  containing  the  wisdom 
of  their  forefathers  written  down  and  preserved 
through  long  ages.  In  fact  there  is  not  very  much 
in  native  African  belief  that  can  be  made  very 
interesting  to  white  boys  and  girls.    But  I  shall  try 


THE  AFRICAN'S  BELIEF  63 


to  do  my  best  to  let  you  understand  something 
about  it. 

Some  people  at  home  think  that  the  heathen  tribes 
of  Africa  know  nothing  at  all  about  God.  But  it  is 
not  so.  They  do  know  something,  be  it  only  a  very 
very  little.  In  some  tribes  it  is  so  very  little  as  to  be 
almost  nothing,  and  shows  us  how  far  they  have 
fallen  away  from  a  knowledge  of  their  Creator.  Let 
me  tell  you  what  some  of  the  tribes  here  believe 
about  God. 

God,  our  loving  heavenly  Father,  is  to  them  but  a 
far-away  spirit  whom  they  call  the  old,  old  one,  or 
the  great,  great  one.  He  made  the  world  and  every- 
thing in  it  and  sends  rain  and  sunshine,  and  is  all- 
powerful.  But  He  is  very  far  away  from  us  and 
takes  little  interest  in  the  people  of  the  earth. 

When  people  die,  their  spirits,  they  say,  go  to  the 
land  of  this  old,  old  one.  Spirit  villages  are  there, 
I  have  heard  it  said,  inhabited  by  the  spirit  folk. 
As  a  man  was  on  earth  so  is  he  in  the  land  of  the 
spirits.  So  a  chief  on  earth  remains  a  chief  in  spirit 
land.  Now,  the  spirits  of  the  chiefs  are  supposed 
to  be  on  very  intimate  terms  with  the  old,  old  one, 
and  are  allowed  to  do  almost  whatever  they  like 
with  the  affairs  of  the  people  on  earth.  So  it  is  the 
spirit  of  the  dead  chief  that  receives  the  sacrifices 
and  prayers  of  the  people.  The  old,  old  one  is  felt 
to  be  so  far  away  and  so  indifferent  that  he  is  passed 
over,  in  some  tribes  forgotten  altogether,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  chief  receives  the  homage  due  to  the  great, 
great  one,  because  the  people  feel  that  he,  the  chief, 
has  a  personal  interest  in  them. 

The  more  famous,  generally  the  more  fierce,  a 
chief  was  on  earth  in  his  life- time  the  more  is  his  help 


64 


CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


asked  for  after  he  is  dead,  and  has  gone  to  the  land 
of  the  spirits.  It  is  not  considered  wise  to  neglect 
him  in  case  he  revenge  himself  upon  the  people. 

The  spirits  of  the  common  people  are  just  ordinary 
inhabitants  of  spirit  land  and  are  of  no  account, 
except  to  their  near  relatives.  A  man  in  private 
matters  of  his  own  may  seek  the  aid  of  the  spirit 
of  his  father  or  of  his  grandfather.  But  on  the  whole, 
it  is  the  spirit  of  the  chief  whom  the  people  knew 
and  were  familiar  with  that  is  prayed  to  and  receives 
the  sacrifices  of  the  people. 

The  spirits  when  they  wish  to  speak  to  the  people 
may  enter  into  any  person  and  cause  that  person  to 
rave  like  a  madman.  He  retires  to  the  darkness  of 
a  hut  while  his  fit  of  madness  lasts.  His  sayings 
are  not  set  aside  as  mere  idle  words,  but  are  remem- 
bered and  repeated  to  the  interpreter,  generally 
an  old  person,  who  explains  to  the  people  that  under 
cover  of  these  words  spoken  in  delirium  by  the  person 
possessed  the  spirits  mean  that  so  and  so  should  be 
done.  Dreams  also  are  thought  of  as  journeyings  to 
the  land  of  the  spirits. 

Now  I  think  that  will  be  enough  about  the  spirits 
for  you  to  understand  a  little  of  what  many  of 
the  African  children  believe  about  the  Great  Spirit 
who  made  everything.  It  is  only  when  the  children 
are  big  that  they  are  told  all  these  things  about  the 
spirits.  The  people  do  not  Hke  to  talk  about  such 
things,  and  the  children  avoid  the  places  where  the 
spirits  are  supposed  to  come  and  visit.  They  are 
afraid  to  give  offence  to  the  spirits,  I  think,  and,  in 
fact,  all  their  sacrifices  seem  to  be  made  with  the 
idea  of  appeasing  the  anger  and  earning  the  good 
will  of  the  spirits. 


THE  AFRICAN  BELIEF  65 


Sometimes  the  sacrifices  are  made  at  the  base  of 
a  tree.  Very  often  a  small  hut  is  built  in  which 
sacrifice  is  offered  up.  The  offerings  are  of  flour 
or  native  beer,  and  at  other  times  of  animals.  Only 
small  bits  of  the  flesh  of .  the  sacrificed  animal  are 
offered,  the  rest  of  the  meat  being  eaten  by  the  people. 
The  bits  offered  up  are  wrapped  in  leaves  and  placed 
at  the  root  of  the  sacrificial  tree.  It  is  the  chief 
who  offers  up  the  sacrifice  and  says  the  prayers.  In 
times  of  great  calamity  large  sacrifices  are  held  in 
which  several  chiefs  join  their  people  together  and 
make  prayer  to  the  departed  ones.  Sacrifices  are 
also  made  for  rain,  for  success  in  hunting,  for  safety 
in  travelling,  and  for  freedom  from  sickness. 

The  prayers  are  generally  very  simple  requests 
like  the  following  one  for  safety,  "  Watch  over  me, 
my  forefather,  who  died  long  ago,  and  tell  the  great 
spirit  at  the  head  of  my  race  from  whom  came  my 
mother."  Here  is  a  short  account  of  a  sacrifice  for 
rain.  "  The  chief  goes  to  the  spirit  hut  to  offer 
sacrifice  for  rain  and  the  people  stand  round  about 
having  brought  the  meat  for  the  sacrifice.  Then  the 
chief  begins  to  complain  to  the  spirits  saying,  '  Give 
us  rain  and  do  not  harden  your  heart  against  us.' 
With  many  other  prayers  he  continues  to  implore, 
while  the  people  round  about  clap  their  hands,  and 
some  of  the  women  sing  : — 

'  Kokwe  Kolole,  Kokwe  Kolole 
Mbvula  ya  kuno  sikudza 
Kokwe  Kolole.' 

which  means  : — 

'  May  there  come  rain,  sweeping  rain, 
The  rain  here  has  not  come  ; 
May  there  come  rain,  sweeping  rain.' " 


E 


66  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


When  the  rain  does  come  the  people  believe  that  it 
came  because  they  appeased  the  anger  of  the  great, 
great  one  with  their  sacrifice. 

But  wherever  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  is  preached  the 
people  are  learning  that  there  has  been  offered  up 
for  them  by  God  Himself  one  great  sacrifice  which 
has  redeemed  the  fallen  sons  of  men — the  sacrifice 
of  His  only  Son  on  Calvary's  Cross. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  AFRICAN  IN  SICKNESS 

When  the  children  of  Africa  are  well  and  strong, 
their  fives  are  carelessly  happy,  so  long  as  they  are 
not  hungry.  When  they  are  ill,  all  the  happiness 
departs,  and  they  become  very  miserable.  You  may 
have  thought  that  because  black  children  can  eat 
almost  anything  that  they  are  never  ill.  But  that 
is  not  so.  They  suffer,  I  believe,  a  good  deal  more 
than  white  children  do.  For  simple  troubles  they 
get  no  treatment  at  all.  They  are  just  ill,  they  say, 
and  lie  on  their  mats  near  the  fire  or  sit  huddled  up 
over  it  until  they  are  better.  These  Httle  complaints 
are  mostly  all  of  the  stomachache  kind,  caused  by 
reckless  eating  of  anything  the  children  can  pick  up. 
I  have  seen  black  children  eat  fruit  that  was  quite 
green  and  hard — such  as  would  kill  little  whites — 
and  still  live.  And  when  you  try  to  explain  that 
these  things  can  hurt  they  just  smile  to  themselves 
andjgo  on  swallowing  them,  for  they  don't  believe 
you.    Headaches  are  treated  by  binding  the  head 


THE  AFRICAN  IN  SICKNESS  67 


round  the  temples  tightly  with  a  piece  of  string. 
Sometimes,  if  the  headache  is  very  painful,  the 
sufferer  is  bled.  Little  cuts  are  made  on  the 
throbbing  temples  with  a  sharp  knife  and  the  blood 
allowed  to  flow. 

It  is  the  mothers  who  are  the  doctors  and  nurses  of 
the  children.  Very  often  the  sick  child  is  attended 
by  his  grandmother.  These  old  ladies  are  supposed 
to  know  a  great  deal  about  medicine  ;  and  they  do 
know  many  plants  and  roots  that  are  useful  in  simple 
illnesses.  For  mumps,  which  many  black  children 
call  "  masigwidi,"  no  medicine  is  given.  The  mothers 
tell  the  children  to  go  to  the  mortar,  put  their  heads 
in  and  call  "  Mooo  !  I  don't  know  whether  this 
simple  remedy  is  a  certain  cure  or  not. 

The  following  method  of  getting  rid  of  the 
disease  is  considered  to  be  very  effective.  "  The 
person  sick  with  "  Masigwidi  "  goes  in  the  evening 
to  the  house  of  another  person  and  claps  his  hands 
in  salutation.  When  the  inmates  reply  the  owner 
of  the  house  takes  mumps,  and  the  former  sick  one 
runs  off  cured." 

When  a  child  is  seriously  ill  the  doctor  is  called 
in,  as  is  the  case  with  white  children.  The  disease 
has  gone  beyond  the  skill  of  the  mothers  and  grand- 
mothers, so  better  advice  must  be  got.  The  doctor, 
when  he  comes,  is  first  of  all  paid  a  fee.  A  few  fowls 
are  caught  and  handed  over  to  him.  Then  he  begins 
to  treat  the  sufferer.  He  keeps  his  medicine  in  horns, 
not  having  any  bottles.  And  in  these  horns  are 
many  weird  mixtures.  Like  the  grandmothers', 
most  of  his  medicine  is  made  from  plants  and  roots, 
yet  it  is  wonderful  how  well  they  get  on  with  these 
simple  things.    When  the  patient  recovers,  another 


68  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


fee  is  charged  by  the  doctor.  But  if  the  child  dies, 
unless  if  be  from  some  well-known  disease  Hke  small- 
pox, death  may  be  attributed  to  witchcraft.  Someone 
has  used  bad  magic  against  the  patient  and  nothing 
could  save  him. 

In  the  presence  of  serious  trouble,  however,  these 
doctors  are  very  helpless,  and  when  accidents  have 
happened  and  bones  are  broken,  and  internal  injuries 
are  inflicted,  the  sufferers  are  beyond  their  aid.  Here 
then  is  the  opportunity  for  the  medical  missionary 
from  the  home  land.  He  is  able  again  and  again 
to  help  the  people  when  they  are  most  helpless. 
Thus  he  gains  their  confidence,  and  a  way  to  their 
hearts  for  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  His  work  is  a  daily 
putting  into  practice  of  the  teaching  of  Our  Saviour, 
and  the  lesson  learned  from  it  is  not  lost  on  the  African. 

African  children  suffer  a  great  deal  from  ulcers, 
especially  on  their  legs.  These  are  painful  sores  that 
break  out  on  them,  and  if  neglected,  as  they  are,  alas ! 
too  often,  there  is  grave  danger  to  the  limb.  Sores 
on  the  toes  are  common.  You  may  see  in  almost 
any  village,  children  running  about  with  some  of 
their  toes  half  eaten  away.  These  sores  are  caused 
by  an  insect — the  penetrating  flea  or  jigger  which 
bores  its  way  under  the  skin  and  seeks  in  the  warm 
flesh  a  cosy  place  to  bring  forth  its  young.  It  gener- 
ally selects  a  place  under  the  toe  nail  as  most  suitable. 
When  it  enters  first,  the  jigger  is  very  small.  But 
in  a  few  days  it  grows  big  and  may  become  the  size 
of  a  small  pea.  If  these  pests  are  not  promptly 
removed,  sores  break  out  on  the  toes  and  the  toes 
crumble  away.  Now  httle  children  are  unable  to 
take  them  out,  and  if  their  mothers  neglect  to  do  so, 
the  children  lose  their  toes.    I  have  often  seen  boys 


THE  AFRICAN  IN  SICKNESS  69 


armed  with  stout  thorns  picking  the  jiggers  out  of 
one  another's  feet.  The  process  I  know,  from  ex- 
perience, is  sometimes  painful,  for  the  toe  under  the 
nail  is  very  tender,  yet  the  black  children  seldom 
wince  when  the  jiggers  are  being  taken  out.  They 
are  brave  little  things  in  the  presence  of  physical 
pain,  but  they  really  do  not  feel  so  keenly  as  you 
children  do.  Their  feelings  are  a  good  deal  blunter 
than  yours,  and  so  they  do  not  dread  pain  as  much 
as  you  do,  for  they  suffer  less. 

There  are  some  diseases  found  among  African 
children  that  are  not  found  among  white  children.  Of 
these  leprosy,  the  most  dreadful,  used  long  ago  to 
afflict  white  children  too.  It  is  the  terrible  disease 
from  which  our  tender-hearted  Saviour  freed  some 
poor  sufferers  when  He  was  on  earth.  Alas  !  one 
comes  across  it  now  and  again  among  the  black  races 
of  Africa. 

I  remember  once  meeting  a  leper.  He  was  a  bright 
lad  and  was  attending  a  class  for  Bible  instruction. 
Some  of  the  joints  of  his  fingers  were  gone  at  the 
time  I  saw  him,  but  he  had  been  a  leper  for  some 
years  then.  He  told  me  that  his  father  had  been 
a  leper,  and  that  he  himself  began  to  suffer  from 
leprosy  when  he  was  a  boy  of  some  twelve  years  of 
age.  The  beginning  was  like  this.  One  morning 
he  awoke  and  felt  his  hands  and  arms  sore  as  if  they 
had  been  burned  in  spots  here  and  there  during  the 
night.  So  he  blamed  the  other  boys  who  slept  in  the 
hut  for  playing  tricks  on  him  with  a  burning  stick. 
But  they  all  denied  it.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the 
fatal  disease. 

The  Africans  have  no  treatment  for  the  leper.  He 
simply  lives  his  life  in  the  village  so  long  as  he  looks 


70  CHILDREN  IN  AFRICA 


after  himself  or  can  get  anyone  to  care  for  him.  But 
when  his  disease  has  gone  on  year  after  year,  and  he 
is  no  longer  able  to  walk  or  do  anything  for  himself, 
or  has  no  friend  to  care  for  him,  the  people  used  to 
have,  and  still  have  in  many  places,  a  savage  way  of 
deaUng  with  him.  Back  from  the  village  a  bit  in 
the  bush  a  little  hut  was  built,  and  one  day  the  leper 
was  carried  out,  taken  to  the  hut,  shut  into  it  with 
a  supply  of  food,  and  left  to  his  fate.  Either  he 
perished  from  hunger  or  was  devoured  by  a  wild 
beast,  or  was  burned  to  death  by  a  bush-fire.  The 
natives  firmly  believe  that  such  lepers  are  transformed 
into  wild  animals. 

I  once  heard  how  a  poor  sufferer  was  otherwise 
dealt  with.  He  had  been  ill  for  years  with  an  ulcer 
on  one  of  his  legs.  The  sore  had  been  neglected 
at  first  and  then  it  got  too  bad  for  treatment.  But 
as  native  doctors  cannot  cut  off  Hmbs  as  white  doctors 
can,  the  poor  fellow  could  now  do  nothing  but  lie 
about  his  village,  and  depend  on  his  friends  to  help 
him.  As  he  got  worse  and  worse,  and  less  able  to 
help  himself,  his  friends  became  fewer  and  fewer. 
At  last  he  became  such  a  source  of  trouble  to  the 
people  that  the  men  decided  to  put  an  end  to  it. 
Accordingly  they  went  up  the  hillside  near  and  dug 
a  grave  with  a  small  niche  to  one  side  at  the  bottom. 
Then  they  returned  to  the  village  and  carried  off 
the  helpless  sufferer.  He  guessed  at  their  intention 
and  piteously  implored  them  to  desist.  "  Where  are 
you  going  with  me  ?  he  said.  Do  not  leave  me 
alone  on  the  cold  hillside."  But  they  were  deaf  to 
his  appeals.  When  they  reached  the  grave  they 
quickly  lowered  the  miserable  wretch  down,  placed 
him  in  the  niche  at  the  side,  shut  him  in  with  a  mat, 


THE  AFRICAN  IN  SICKNESS  71 


drove  in  a  few  stakes,  filled  up  the  grave,  and  left 
him. 

Not  long  ago  I  passed  through  a  village  where 
some  years  ago  I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
head  man.  He  was  then  a  hale  and  hearty  old  fellow, 
fond  of  his  joke  and  his  snuff-box.  But  now  what 
a  change.  I  found  his  people  mostly  gone  and  he 
himself  but  the  wreck  of  what  he  had  been.  Every- 
thing round  about  had  a  neglected  look.  Some 
disease  or  other  had  laid  him  low  and  friends  had 
gone.  I  found  him  sitting  on  a  mat  close  to  a  fire. 
His  poor  skeleton  legs  were  firmly  bound  at  knees 
and  ankles  with  cords  made  of  bark.  He  had  tried 
many  doctors,  he  said,  and  had  paid  for  much  medicine, 
and  now  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  sit  and  wait 
for  the  end.  He  was  too  old  to  visit  a  white  doctor ; 
he  was  accustomed  to  the  medicine  of  his  own  people 
and  would  not  try  that  of  strangers. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  suffering  in  African  villages 
silently  and  patiently  borne  ;  and  the  white  doctor 
can  do  a  great  deal  to  alleviate  it.  I  can  assure  you 
children  that  your  pennies  put  into  the  missionary 
box  to  help  to  support  hospitals  in  heathen  lands 
are  not  given  in  vain ;  and  there  is  no  part  of 
missionary  work  that  more  deserves  your  help. 
Remember  what  our  Lord  said,  "  Inasmuch  as 
ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me." 


72  CHILDREN  IN  AFRICA 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MAGIC  MEDICINE 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  were  talking  about 
doctors  and  medicine.  In  this  chapter  we  shall  hear 
more  about  medicine,  but  of  another  kind.  Medicine 
in  Africa  is  of  two  kinds — one  for  the  lawful  purpose 
of  heahng  the  sick,  the  other  for  the  unlawful  purpose 
of  bewitching  people  and  doing  other  dark  deeds. 
It  is  when  we  begin  to  look  into  all  that  surrounds 
this  unlawful  medicine  that  we  meet  "  the  heathen 
in  his  darkness." 

The  black  people  firmly  believe  in  the  power  of 
medicines  to  bewitch,  to  enable  the  possessor  to 
steal  or  to  do  some  other  thing  equally  bad.  Any- 
thing that  happens  for  which  they  cannot  account, 
they  ascribe  to  witchcraft  medicine.  The  white 
people  are  supposed  to  be  the  possessors  of  great 
stores  of  such  medicine,  and  from  that  to  obtain  their 
power.  This  beUef  crops  up  on  all  sides  in  their 
daily  life,  for  there  are  unlawful  medicines  for  almost 
everything.  All  one  requires  to  know  is  where  to 
find  a  dealer  in  such  medicine,  and  he  will  make  it 
to  your  order,  no  matter  what  you  may  want  it  for. 
He  will  give  you  medicine  to  bury  against  your  enemy 
that  he  may  die,  or  he  will  make  you  medicine  that 
will  enable  you  to  kill  game  easily.  Everything 
can  be  done  by  the  power  of  medicine. 

The  darkest  part  of  this  behef  in  medicines  is  that 
in  which  certain  people  are  supposed  to  possess 


MAGIC  MEDICINE 


73 


power  to  cause  the  death  of  others  that  they  may 
feast  upon  their  dead  bodies.  Such  horrible  people 
are  called  "  Afiti "  in  this  part  of  Africa.  They 
are  supposed  through  their  medicine  to  have  powers 
of  making  themselves  invisible  at  will,  of  going  great 
distances  in  the  smallest  interval  of  time,  of  changing 
themselves  into  beasts,  etc.  These  "  Afiti "  are 
supposed  to  gather  during  the  night  round  the 
grave  of  any  recently  buried  person  to  call  the 
dead  man  out  and  to  feast  upon  him.  The  bark 
of  a  fox  or  the  hoot  of  an  owl  at  night  is  said  to  be 
the  signal  call  for  these  wretches  to  assemble  for 
their  awful  meal. 

When  a  mysterious  death  has  happened  in  a  village 
it  is  at  once  blamed  upon  one  of  the  **  Afiti."  But 
who  he  is  nobody  can  tell.  It  may  be  one's  very 
own  father,  for  the  "  Afiti  "  during  the  day  retain 
their  ordinary  form,  one  never  can  tell.  Great  fear 
hangs  over  the  village  for  each  suspects  his  neighbour 
of  being  the  cause  of  the  death.  Then  the  witch- 
finder  is  sent  for.  He,  or  she — for  sometimes  the 
witch-finder  is  a  woman — comes  laden  with  medicines 
and  charms  and  stays  in  the  village.  No  one  now 
will  be  seen  out  of  doors  after  dark  in  case  of  being 
suspected.  After  learning  all  the  gossip  of  the  village 
and  finding  out  who  was  on  bad  terms  with  the  dead 
man,  the  witch-finder  proceeds  to  business. 

The  people  are  assembled  to  the  sound  of  a  large 
drum  and  stand  in  a  circle  in  fear  and  trembUng. 
The  witch-finder  now  begins  to  dance  and  spin  round 
and  work  himself  up  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement, 
during  which  he  rushes  here  and  there  among  the 
frightened  people,  smells  their  hands  for  traces  of  blood, 
and  finally  calls  out  the  name  of  the  guilty  person. 


74  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


Then  the  poison  ordeal  is  tried.  A  poison  draught 
is  made  up  with  bark  from  a  certain  tree  and  the 
accused  is  given  it  to  drink.  Should  he  happen  to 
vomit  it  up  again  after  having  taken  it,  he  is  decared 
to  be  innocent,  and  payment  is  made  to  him.  But 
should  he  happen  to  die,  what  further  proof  was 
necessary  ?  The  village  is  now  clear  of  the  evil  one, 
and  great  rejoicings  are  made  and  payment  given  to 
the  witch-finder.  In  this  way  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  innocent  people  have  met  their  end  in  Darkest 
Africa. 

This  belief  in  "  Afiti  "  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
to  deal  with  which  the  missionary  encounters.  You 
try  to  explain  that  God  never  gave  people  such  power 
over  one  another,  but  although  agreeing  with  you 
outwardly,  they  secretly  cling  to  the  old  belief  and 
their  faith  in  the  poison  cup,  for  there  are  among  them 
people  foohsh  enough  to  imagine  themselves  possessed 
of  "  Afiti  "  powers  who  actually  open  graves  and 
steal  bits,  especially  fingers,  from  the  dead.  It  is 
the  occurrence  of  such  cases  that  causes  the  people 
to  cling  to  their  belief. 

Among  the  negro  peoples  the  makers  of  medicine 
are  supposed  to  have  power  over  the  spirits  and  to 
"  bind  "  them  into  what  are  called  "  fetiches."  A 
fetich  may  consist  of  any  convenient- sized  object. 
It  may  be  a  small  horn  or  a  snail's  shell  or  a  stone. 
But  it  has  power  only  when  the  witch-doctor  has 
imprisoned  a  spirit  in  it.  This  he  does  of  course  for 
payment.  And  fetiches  are  made  to  meet  every 
wish  of  the  human  heart.  You  can  obtain  them 
to  make  you  brave,  or  wise,  or  cunning,  or  to  prevail 
over  your  enemy,  or  to  prevent  theft,  or  to  be  success- 
ful in  the  chase  or  anything  you  wish. 


MAGIC  MEDICINE 


75 


In  this  part  of  Africa  when  a  lion  begins  to  prey 
upon  human  beings,  he  is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the 
"  Afiti  "  who,  to  satisfy  his  craving  for  human  flesh, 
has  transformed  himself  into  a  lion  for  the  time  being. 
At  a  certain  village  on  the  river  Shire  several  people 
had  been  taken  by  a  large  crocodile  which  was  well 
known  because  of  its  boldness.  This  animal  was 
believed  not  to  be  a  real  crocodile  by  the  people  of 
the  village,  but  to  be  one  of  the  "  Afiti  "  transformed. 
After  the  brute  had  taken  off  several  people,  one 
of  the  men  of  the  village  determined  to  put  an  end 
to  the  tragedies.  Seizing  a  spear  he  boldly  went 
into  the  water  to  try  conclusions  with  the  monster. 
But  he  too  in  spite  of  his  medicine  was  taken  off  and 
only  a  reddish  tinge  on  the  water  marked  the  spot 
where  he  had  been  seized  and  dragged  down. 

Quite  recently  I  asked  a  boy  to  go  an  errand  for 
me.  His  destination  was  about  fifteen  miles  away 
and  he  could  not  possibly  arrive  before  dark.  But 
the  road  was  perfectly  safe  or  I  would  not  have  asked 
him  to  go.  At  first  he  did  not  want  to  go,  declaring 
he  was  sure  Afiti  "  would  catch  him  whenever  it 
became  dark.  If  a  fire  is  seen  in  the  distance  where 
no  fire  should  be,  it  is  at  once  put  down  to  the  presence 
of  the  dreaded  corpse  eaters.  I  remember  another 
boy  who  not  long  ago  insisted  in  maintaining  that  one 
night  an  "  Mfiti  "  had  come  and  sat  on  his  chest  for 
a  long  time,  while  he  remained  in  mortal  terror  lest 
it  should  begin  to  tear  him.  Explanations  of  night- 
mare were  of  no  avail.  The  boy  firmly  believes  to 
this  day  that  he  had  a  narrow  escape  from  being 
devoured. 

Some  years  ago  I  remember  seeing  a  medicine 
man  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  natives.    He  was 


76  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


telling  them  that  he  had  medicine  to  protect  him 
from  being  hit  by  any  stone  that  might  be  thrown 
at  him.  His  word  was  just  accepted  and  no  native 
ever  thought  of  hfting  a  stone  to  try.  When  a  white 
man  offered  to  have  a  throw  at  him,  he  objected, 
saying  that  his  medicine  had  power  over  black  people 
only.  Another  man,  I  can  recall,  produced  a  horn 
containing  a  very  powerful  medicine  that  enabled 
the  possessor  to  enter  unseen  into  any  house  by 
simply  stepping  through  the  wall.  He  was  asked 
to  display  its  powers  on  the  white  man's  house.  He 
also  declined  saying  that  his  medicine  was  made 
against  black  men's  houses  only,  which  are  made  of 
grass,  and  not  against  white  men's,  that  are  built 
of  brick. 

What  a  magnificent  faith  these  poor  black  people 
have  in  their  magic  medicine  !  If  it  fails,  it  fails 
only  because  someone  is  working  against  them  with 
more  powerful  medicine  still,  and  a  new  supply  must 
be  got.  The  behef  in  the  medicine  remains  as  strong 
as  ever.  If  this  unwavering  faith  could  only  be 
transformed  in  a  single  day  to  Him  who  is  the  Light 
of  the  World,  what  a  change  would  come  over  the 
Dark  Continent. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  DANCE  AND  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS 

Now  I  am  sure  you  have  learned  a  great  deal  about 
the  African  people  and  their  children,  yet  there  are 
two  important  things  I  have  not  written  about, 
and  these  are  their  dances  and  their  musical  instru- 


DANCE  AND  MUSICAL  INSTRUxMENTS  77 


ments.  I  had  intended  to  put  this  part  into  the 
chapter  on  games,  but  I  thought  I  had  better  not, 
although  the  dance  is  considered  a  game  by  the 
African  children.  In  the  hot  season  when  the  moon 
is  full,  the  whole  country  side  resounds  with  the  beat- 
ing of  drums,  and  the  shrill  voices  of  the  dancers  are 
borne  far  on  the  warm  night  wind.  There  are  many 
kinds  of  drums  from  the  deep  bass  to  the  high  tenor, 
They  are  beaten  with  the  hands  and  on  a  still  night 
the  deep  boom  of  the  bass  drum  can  be  heard  for 
miles  interrupted  by  the  short  snap  of  the  smaller 
ones.  The  time  seems  at  first  very  irregular,  and 
for  a  white  man  difficult  to  follow.  But  the  dancers 
move  out  and  in  and  round  about,  and  keep  up  the 
game  till  sunrise.  Unfortunately  the  dances  are 
not  all  harmless  ones,  and  the  less  said  about  some  of 
them  the  better. 

Of  musical  instruments  the  African  children  have 
quite  a  large  number.  One  of  their  favourites 
is  called  a  "  Sese."  I  can  best  describe  it  to  you 
by  calling  it  an  African  mandoline.  The  body  is 
made  out  of  a  large  dry  gourd  and  the  strings  are 
made  by  twisting  threads  together  till  the  desired 
thickness  and  strength  is  obtained.  The  left  hand 
fingers  are  used  for  pressing  down  the  strings  which 
are  "  tweeked "  by  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand. 
The  music  is  very  pleasing  when  the  Sese  "  player 
is  a  short  distance  off.  The  tunes  are  quite  unhke 
anything  white  children  hear  at  home,  and  charm 
one  by  their  quaintness.  I  have  tried  to  play  the 
instrument,  but  of  course  failed.  The  boys  them- 
selves are  not  all  able  to  play  the  Sese."  Only 
those  who  are  musical  can,  and  after  much  patient 
practice. 


78  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


Another  instrument  with  which  the  boys  amuse 
themselves  is  called  the  "  Sansi."  It  is  the  African 
piano,  and  is  played  a  great  deal  by  river  boys.  The 
sounding  board  in  the  "  Sansi  "  is  made  out  of  a 
flat  piece  of  wood  about  six  or  seven  inches  square 
and  about  an  inch  deep,  hollowed  out.  Two  rows 
of  little  keys  are  fixed  along  this  board.  The  keys 
are  sometimes  made  of  wood  but  in  good  instruments 
are  of  iron.  These  keys  are  all  different  sizes,  and  are 
arranged  so  as  to  produce  a  kind  of  a  scale,  pleasing 
to  the  African  ear  and  not  unpleasant  to  us.  The 
instrument  is  grasped  in  both  hands  and  the  keys 
are  skilfully  played  by  the  thumbs  and  forefingers 
of  both  hands.  Sometimes  these  instruments  are 
bedecked  with  beads  and  pieces  of  shells  which  cause 
a  sort  of  buzzing  accompaniment  to  the  music.  A 
good  deal  of  skill  is  necessary  to  play  the  "  Sansi  " 
properly,  and  it  is  only  a  boy  here  and  there  who  can 
do  it  well.  Like  the  "  Sese,"  the  "  Sansi  "  sounds 
more  pleasant  when  a  bit  away. 

The  flute  is  another  source  of  amusement  to  the 
African  boy.  He  makes  his  own  instrument  out  of 
a  piece  of  reed,  but  he  can  appreciate  a  good  tin  whistle 
from  across  the  sea.  From  the  reed  he  takes  the  pith 
and  bores  three  or  four  holes  in  the  hollow  tube,  and 
his  flute  is  ready.  The  notes  produced  from  the  native 
flute  always  seem  to  me  to  be  of  a  weird  melancholy 
nature.  The  same  three  or  four  notes  are  blown 
over  and  over  again,  and  become  in  time  rather 
monotonous  to  the  white  man. 

Then  there  is  the  African  violin  called  the  "  mgoh." 
It  consists  of  a  drum  through  which  sticks  are  passed. 
There  is  one  string  drawn  tight  over  a  bridge  which 
stands  in  the  drum.    This  primitive  fiddle  is  played 


DANCE  AND  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS  79 


with  a  bow.  It  is  not  so  difficult  to  play  as  the 
others  already  described,  but  its  music  is  much  more 
monotonous. 

The  African  boys  are  also  expert  at  playing  on  a 
wooden  dulcimer  which  they  call  Nangolingondo." 
Pieces  of  hard  wood  tuned  to  the  African  scale  are 
laid  across  two  pieces  of  palm  stem  and  are  fixed  in 
their  places  by  pegs.  Then  two  players  squat  down 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  dulcimer  armed  with  a  stick 
in  each  hand.  One  player  leads  off  with  a  few 
flourishes  and  is  joined  by  the  other  player  whose 
notes  overlap  and  yet  fit  into  and  between  those  of 
the  first  player's  in  a  marvellous  manner.  The  music 
is  fast  and  furious,  but  cannot  be  kept  up  for  a  long 
stretch  at  a  time.  As  with  the  other  instruments, 
this  one  is  heard  to  advantage  some  distance  off. 

The  buzzing  of  a  certain  kind  of  beetle  is  also  made 
to  do  duty  with  children  as  a  kind  of  toy  instrument. 
The  unfortunate  beetle  is  caught  and  fixed  up  with 
grass  so  that  he  cannot  get  away,  although  his  wings 
are  free  to  buzz  with  as  much  as  he  likes.  In  order 
to  make  this  beetle-music  the  insect  is  held  by  the 
grass  in  front  of  the  opened  mouth.  According  as 
the  mouth  is  opened  so  does  the  buzzing  sound  vary. 

There  are  many  other  kinds  of  African  musical 
instruments,  mostly  of  a  very  simple  kind,  giving 
forth  but  a  note  or  two  peculiar  to  the  African  and 
beloved  by  him.  The  children  are  on  the  whole  not 
unmusical  and  can  be  traiped  to  sing  very  sweetly 
indeed.  But  I  am  sure  they  like  their  own  songs 
best. 


80  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


CHAPTER  XVI 

HINDRANCES  TO  THE  GOSPEL 

Now  I  think  I  had  better  not  write  much  more  about 
Africa  and  its  children  lest  I  tire  you.  There  are 
many  other  interesting  things  one  would  Hke  to  tell 
you  but  I  am  afraid  this  book  is  already  quite  long 
enough.  In  India  and  in  China  and  in  other  lands 
I  am  sure  it  is  harder  than  it  is  in  Africa  to  win  the 
people  for  Christ.  Yet  there  are  many  hindrances 
too  in  the  black  man's  way. 

If  aU  Africa  is  to  be  Christ's,  then  Mohammedanism 
in  the  north  must  be  overcome,  and  must  be  pre- 
vented from  creeping  down  southwards.  It  is  already 
weU  over  the  equator,  especially  on  the  east  coast, 
and,  if  left  unhindered,  will  spread  right  onwards. 
But  the  Church  of  Christ  at  home  must  see  that  this 
does  not  happen,  and  Christians  must  put  forth 
all  their  strength  in  the  cause  of  their  Lord  and  Master. . 
And  you  children  too  have  your  part  to  play,  a  part 
which  is  told  you  in  this  little  hymn  of  which  I  have 
copied  two  verses  : — 

"  The  fields  are  all  white 
And  the  reapers  are  few  ; 
We  children  are  willing, 

But  what  can  we  do 
To  work  for  our  Lord  in  His  Harvest  ? 

"  We'll  work  by  our  prayers. 
By  the  offerings  we  bring, 
By  small  self-denials  ; 

The  least  little  thing 
May  work  for  our  Lord  in  His  Harvest." 


HINDRANCES  TO  THE  GOSPEL  81 


Another  enemy  of  Christ  in  Africa  is  the  native's 
behef  in  the  customs  and  superstitions  of  their  fore- 
fathers. The  old  people  cling  to  these,  and  tell  the 
children  that  the  Gospel  is  only  white  men's  stories. 
They  die  hard  these  old  superstitions,  but  they  are 
slowly  and  surely  disappearing  before  the  light  of 
God's  message.  To  obey  Christ  means  that  a  great 
deal  of  the  old  life  must  be  given  up  and  put  away 
altogether  ;  and  it  is  here  that  the  struggle  begins. 
Temptations  to  drift  back  into  the  old  way  of  living 
beset  the  African  Christian  on  all  sides.  They  come 
from  without  and  from  within,  and  only  the  word  of 
God  planted  in  his  heart  can  keep  him  from  falhng. 

Polgyamy  is  one  of  the  great  obstacles  in  his  path. 
I  wonder  if  you  know  what  that  big  word  means. 
In  words  it  means  that  the  men  may  marry  many 
wives,  but  in  reality  it  means  that  the  women  and 
children  are  living  in  conditions  that  give  them 
but  little  chance  of  rising  out  of  the  darkness  by 
which  they  are  surrounded.  I  remember  how  much 
surprised  I  was  when  told  that  a  certain  little  girl, 
who  had  been  at  a  village  school  but  who  was  now 
withdrawn,  was  married.  She  was  not  really  married 
of  course,  only  "  bespoken  "  as  it  were,  by  a  big 
bearded  man,  who  already  had  more  than  one  wife. 
The  girl  had  therefore  been  taken  from  school  and 
was  lost  to  Mission  influence.  In  Africa  the  girls 
have  but  little  of  the  happy  girlhood  known  in  England, 
for  they  step  from  childhood  right  into  womanhood. 

There  is  another  enemy  of  Christ  in  Africa  that  I 
do  not  care  to  write  to  you  about,  because  it  comes 
from  our  own  race,  but  it  would  not  be  fair  to  make 
no  mention  of  it  whatever.  The  force  of  example 
goes  a  long  long  way  in  Africa,  and  often  does  a  great 

F 


82  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


deal  more  than  words.  It  is  what  you  do  rather  than 
what  you  say  that  first  attracts  the  heathen.  Now 
if  a  careless  white  man  forgets  this  and  hke  the 
prodigal  son  in  the  far-off  country  gives  himself  up 
to  the  evil  ways  of  hving,  he  is  doing  a  great  deal 
of  harm  to  Christ's  Kingdom  in  Africa,  and  is  putting 
a  serious  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  the  poor 
black  people.  If  such  white  men  would  but  remember 
that  they  come  from  a  Christian  land  and  behave 
towards  their  ignorant  black  neighbours  as  Christian 
gentlemen  this  enemy  of  the  Gospel  would  soon  be 
laid  low. 

Let  me  now  tell  you  a  little  how  missionary  work 
among  the  heathen  Africans  is  carried  on.  In  different 
missions  the  work  is  carried  on  in  different  ways,  but 
the  end  is  always  the  same — that  the  Gospel  be 
preached  to  the  heathen. 

Many  of  the  missions  divide  their  work  into  four 
parts.  One  is  called  Evangelistic — that  is  the  part 
of  the  work  in  which  the  Gospel  is  preached  to  the 
people.  Another  is  called  Medical  because  doctors 
and  nurses  join  in  the  mission  work  to  heal  the  sick 
and  help  the  helpess.  Another  part  is  Educational — 
the  teaching  of  the  people  in  school,  so  that  they  may 
be  able  to  read  the  Word  of  God.  The  last  part  is 
called  Industrial,  for  in  it  the  African  Christians 
are  taught  trades  to  show  them  that  work  is  not  for 
slaves  only,  and  to  make  them  useful  members  of  the 
community. 

Of  course  in  every  mission  you  may  not  find  all 
those  four  departments  of  work.  Some  missions 
are  mainly  Evangelistic,  others  Industrial,  but  in 
all  large  missions  in  Africa  you  generally  find  the 
four.    In  the  evangelistic  work  the  missionary,  fresh 


HINDRANCES  TO  THE  GOSPEL  83 


from  home,  is  at  a  great  disadvantage  till  he  has 
mastered  the  native  language.  Then  this  difficulty 
over,  he  finds  the  way  open  to  the  black  man's  heart. 
Experience  however  is  showing  us  more  and  more  that 
it  is  not  the  white  man  who  will  evangelise  Africa, 
but  the  African,  and  the  work  of  the  white  missionary 
is  more  and  more  being  reduced  to  the  training  of 
the  native  evangehsts  who  will  carry  the  message 
of  love  to  the  people. 

Hospital,  School,  and  Industrial  work  have,  in  Africa, 
been  practically  forced  upon  the  missionaries.  The 
native  of  Africa  sick  is  most  helpless,  and  the  native 
of  Africa  well  is  most  indifferent  to  sickness  in  others. 
Hence  the  constant  ministration  to  his  own  sick 
folks  by  white  doctors  and  nurses  fills  him  with 
astonishment,  and  causes  him  to  think  why  this 
should  be  done.  It  is  a  magnificent  object  lesson 
to  the  native  of  the  practice  in  our  lives  of  the  Gospel 
of  Christ. 

One  of  the  best  gifts  that  can  be  given  to  any  race 
of  people  is  the  gift  of  the  Bible  in  their  own  tongue. 
But  to  prevent  the  Bible  being  a  sealed  book  to  them, 
the  people  must  first  be  taught  how  to  read.  So  the 
missionary  must  turn  school-master  and  teach  his 
people  their  letters.  Here,  then,  is  the  beginning  of 
educational  work  and  it  is  found  a  great  help  to  the 
evangelistic.  For  in  school,  reading  is  not  the  only 
subject  taught.  The  children  learn,  as  they  never 
otherwise  could,  the  story  of  Jesus.  And  the  teacher 
is  naturally  the  evangeHst.  So  preaching  and  teach- 
ing in  Africa  go  hand  in  hand. 

.  Then  tliere  is  work  such  as  the  African  is  not 
accustomed  to.  He  is  by  no  means  lazy,  as  is  so  often 
said  by  ill-informed  people ;  but  he  has  to  be  taught 


84  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


that  work  is  not  for  inferiors  only.  Hence  all  kinds 
of  useful  trades  are  taught  in  large  missions.  The 
Africans  make  very  good  carpenters,  gardeners, 
bricklayers,  and  printers.  In  fact,  they  pick  up 
readily  such  trades  as  are  taught  them.  Of  course, 
at  their  present  stage  of  development,  they  cannot 
be  compared  with  white  workman,  and  should  never 
so  be  compared,  but  they  do  exceedingly  well  so  far 
as  they  are  able. 

In  thus  educating  and  training  their  people  the 
missions  are  endeavouring  to  make  their  converts 
Christians,  who  can  read  their  Bibles,  and  who  will 
prove  themselves  to  be  useful  and  industrious  members 
of  the  community  in  which  they  live. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

METHODS  OF  MISSION  WORK 

In  this  chapter,  which  must  be  the  last,  I  want  to  let 
you  see  as  well  as  possible  a  little  mission  work  in 
the  various  departments  you  read  about  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter.  Let  me  begin  with  the  evangehstic. 
In  a  missionary  magazine  I  have  come  across  a  de- 
scription which  will  suit  the  purpose  very  well.  Here 
it  is,  a  visit  to  a  village  preaching. 

"  Our  machila  carriers  are  impatient  to  be  off. 
They  are  not  always  so  anxious  about  an  early  start, 
but  to-day  we  can  sympathise  with  their  impatience, 
for  the  hot  weather  is  upon  us,  and  travelling  during 
the  heat  of  the  day  is  anything  but  comfortable. 
A  start  is  made  at  last,  and  we  are  now  as  eager  as 


METHODS  OF  MISSION  WORK  85 


our  '  boys  '  to  see  the  end  of  the  seven  or  eight- 
mile  journey.  It  will  take  us  almost  two  hours  to 
do  this  short  distance — two  hours  of  as  unpleasant 
travelling  as  one  could  wish  to  be  saved  from,  for 
machila  travelling  is  at  the  best  but  a  mild  form 
of  being  tossed  in  a  blanket. 

"  The  carriers  keep  up  an  incessant  chatter  all  the 
way,  varied  at  times  with  a  break  into  the  chorus  of 
one  of  their  machila  songs. 

'  Gurr-r-r,  Mwana  wa  mkango,  Ine 
Child  of  a  lion,  I  am  fierce 
Fierce  am  I,  child  of  a  lion. 
Gurr-r-r,  Gurr-r-r.' 

Such  is  the  complaint  of  one  of  the  carriers  as  he 
sweats  at  the  machila  pole.  He  imitates,  with  wonder- 
ful skill,  the  deep  growl  of  the  lion,  and  fondly  compares 
himself  for  strength  to  the  king  of  beasts.  The 
other  boys  with  lusty  chorus  give  him  every  support 
in  his  contention,  and  even  we  agree,  judging  from 
his  deep  growls,  that  he  must  really  be  what  he  says 
he  is,  and  soon  the  chorus  ends. 

"  But  here  we  are  at  Chentambo's  village.  Our 
machila  men  promptly  retire  under  the  shade  of  the 
nearest  tree  and  stretch  themselves  out  to  rest. 

"  The  service  has  already  begun,  and,  if  we  want  to 
be  in  time  next  Sunday,  we  must  leave  very  early. 
Che  Bernard  is  giving  an  address,  the  gist  of  which  is 
the  contrast  between  the  old  heathen  life  of  super- 
stition and  darkness  and  the  new  way  of  the  cross, 
of  truth  and  light  and  Hfe  eternal,  of  the  love  of  God 
for  fallen  mankind,  and  the  great  sacrifice  of  Christ 
Jesus,  our  Saviour. 

"  It  is  skilfully  placed  before  the  audience,  much 


86  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


better  than  could  be  done  by  a  white  man.  The 
people  are  interested  ;  they  understand,  and  they 
KNOW  that  Bernard's  way  is  the  right  one.  You 
can  read  it  on  their  faces.  Old  customs  and  super- 
stitions, however,  die  hard,  and  to-morrow,  perhaps, 
even  to-day  many  of  those  eager  listeners  will  be 
the  same  careless  indifferent  lot  they  were  yesterday. 
But  the  seed  is  not  falling  only  in  stony  places  ; 
customs  and  superstitions  cannot  always  choke  it. 
By  and  by  will  come  the  harvest  and  the  triumph 
of  the  Word. 

"  While  Bernard  is  speaking  let  us  look  around. 
That  we  are  in  the  school  is  evident,  for  there  is  the 
blackboard  and  there  the  easel.  Over  on  the  other 
side  hangs  a  syllable  card.  But  on  Sunday,  it  is 
the  *  Nyumba  ya  Mulungu  '  (House  of  God),  and 
here  we  are  surrounded  by  such  a  crowd  as  never 
enters  school. 

"  Men,  women,  and  children  of  all  ages  are  sitting 
upon  the  poles  which  do  duty  for  seats.  But  when 
we  run  our  eyes  over  the  crowd  we  find  that  the 
majority  are  women  and  children.  Of  grown  men 
there  are  few.  Where  may  they  be  ?  They  may, 
perhaps,  be  out  of  the  district,  on  plantations,  at 
the  railway,  or  down  to  the  river  for  loads,  but  they 
may  also  be  somewhere  not  so  far  away,  beer-drinking. 
There  is,  however,  quite  a  goodly  number  of  youths 
among  our  hearers. 

"  The  audience  is  happy,  noisily  so.  There  is  no  such 
quiet  here  as  is  given  to  a  home  preacher.  The 
little  fat,  brown,  shining  babies  will  not  be  still ; 
the}^  insist  upon  making  themselves  heard  all  through 
the  address,  and  it  is  only  when  one  has  become 
most  outrageous  in  his  conduct,  that  his  mother 


METHODS  OF  MISSION  WORK  87 


thinks  it  necessary  to  let  him  see  the  trees  out- 
side. 

"  But  when  the  white  man  gets  up  to  begin  to  speak, 
all  these  tiny  brown  mortals  seem  by  instinct  to  plot 
against  him.  No  doubt  his  white  face  is  the  cause 
of  it,  for  he  is  always  greeted  as  only  black  babies 
can  welcome  a  white  speaker.  Bernard  however  goes 
calmly  on.  He  is  used  to  this  kind  of  thing  and  he 
does  not  suffer  from  nerves.  So,  too  with  his  audience, 
not  a  word  is  lost. 

"  Crash  !  down  goes  a  seat  broken  in  two  by  the 
weight  of  some  half-dozen  ponderous  dames.  But 
this  is  quietly  ignored  by  the  rest  of  the  audience, 
and  the  heavy  ones  proceed  to  accommodate  them- 
selves to  a  seat  on  the  floor,  as  if  nothing  out  of  the 
way  had  happened.  Then  two  dogs  have  disagreed 
and  become  unpleasant  to  one  another,  till  a  few 
vigorous  cuffs  and  a  blow  from  a  stick  convince 
our  canine  friends  that  to-day  they  must  be  on  their 
best  behaviour,  fit  and  proper  for  dogs  admitted 
to  such  an  assembly.  But  the  babies  have  their 
own  way  and  perform  an  involuntary  accompaniment 
all  the  time  of  the  service. 

"  Bernard  has  finished  now.  He  has  urged  the 
people  to  come  to  a  decision  to-day,  not  to  put  off 
till  the  to-morrow  which  never  comes.  Now  is  the 
time  to  take  a  stand  on  the  side  of  truth  and 
righteousness.  Who  will  take  his  stand  now  ? 
And  so  he  leaves  his  audience  to  answer  his  final 
appeal. 

"  A  hymn,  one  of  the  few  which  the  school  children 
have  learned,  has  been  given  out  by  Bernard.  He 
reads  the  first  verse  : — 


88  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


'  Mwamva  mau  a  Mulungu 
Mukabvomeranji  ko  ? 
Kodi  musandula  ratima 
Ndi  kumvera  Yesu'yo. 
Bvomerani,  Bvomerani,  Bvomerani  msanga  tu.' 

You  have  heard  the  call  of  Jesus 

And  your  answer  now  must  give. 
Turn  to  Him  your  heart  so  precious, 

And  obeying  learn  to  live. 
Oh  believe  Him  :  Oh  believe  Him  :  Oh  believe  Him  : 
quickly  do.' 

"  The  singing  is  robust ;  there  is  no  absence  of  sound, 
and  the  hymn  is  enjoyed  by  all.  It  may  not  be  the 
finest  of  music,  but  it  is  living,  real,  earnest. 

"  Then  follows  a  short  prayer  and  the  service  is  over. 
In  a  few  minutes  men,  women,  babies,  and  dogs 
are  out  into  the  sunshine,  and  we  are  enjoying,  nay, 
gulping  down  the  fresh  air. 

"  The  hearers'  class  has  now  assembled,  and  we 
endeavour  to  teach  a  few  of  the  great  truths  of  our 
faith  to  this  little  company  of  young  men  and  women. 
To  this  little  class  we  look  for  the  things  of  the  future. 
Here  at  least  the  ground  is  not  stony.  The  seed  is 
being  sown  in  good  soil  and  by  God's  blessing  will 
bear  fruit  in  the  future  and  become  the  foundation 
on  which  to  build  another  church. 

"  When  the  lesson  is  over  we  have  a  few  minutes 
talk  with  Bernard  and  some  of  the  boys,  to  give  and 
to  receive  words  of  encouragement  in  the  work. 
Then  once  more  to  our  machila  and  back  home,  our 
'  Mwana  wa  mkango  '  being  as  fierce  as  ever. 

'  Guwr-r-r.    Mwana  wa  mkango,  Ine. 
Guwr-r-r  ;  Mwana  wa  mkango,  Ine. 
Guwr-r-r ;  Guwr-r-r.' " 


METHODS  OF  MISSION  WORK  89 


Now  let  me  send  you  along  with  a  mission  lady 
to  visit  a  village  school,  so  that  you  may  know  a  little 
about  the  educational  work  of  an  African  mission. 
But  I  am  afraid  you  cannot  go  to  the  village  so  I 
must  let  the  lady  tell  of  her  visit  herself.  This  is 
what  she  writes,  and  had  you  gone  with  her  you 
would  have  seen  it  all  with  your  own  eyes : 

"  *  Our  Donna  is  coming  !  Our  Donna  is  coming  !  ' 
Thus  heralded,  we  approach  the  village,  a  flock  of 
small  boys,  who  have  come  to  meet  us,  dancing  along 
before  the  machila,  shrieking  at  the  pitch  of  their 
shrill  young  voices. 

" '  Our  Donna  has  come  ! '  announces  that  we  have 
reached  the  village  courtyard.  There  stands  the 
school,  a  little  grass  shed,  with  forms  like  bird  perches  ; 
and  the  teacher,  conspicuous  by  his  clean  white  clothes, 
and  Kungauma,  the  headman,  are  waiting  there  to 
welcome  me. 

"  After  a  little,  a  wheezy  horn  is  blown  by  a  stalwart 
young  man,  and  the  scholars  begin  to  assemble. 
Meantime  I  pay  a  visit  to  the  women's  quarters 
where  the  older  women  are  busy  pounding  the  maize 
and  sifting  the  flour.  After  a  few  words  of  friendly 
greeting,  enquires  about  their  work  and  notice  of  their 
babies — for  a  black  mother,  as  well  as  a  white  one, 
likes  to  see  *  her  bairns  respeckit  like  the  lave  ' — 
I  return  to  the  school.    It  is  full  to  overflowing. 

"  A  hymn  is  sung  and  prayers  are  said  by  the 
teacher  ;  then  the  classes  arrange  themselves  on  their 
respective  '  perches. '  I  begin  to  examine  Class  i ,  while 
an  admiring  circle  of  fond  mothers  and  sympathising 
friends  squats  outside.  After  going  conscientiously 
through  the  lessons  of  Class  i,  we  go  on  to  Class  2, 
and  I  hear  them  their  allotted  task. 


90  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


"  But  time  is  flying  !  I  ask  what  other  classes  still 
remain  to  be  examined.  "  Class  3  and  an  Infant," 
replies  the  teacher,  indicating  their  whereabouts. 
I  glance  at  the  dozen  or  so  of  eager  little  faces  that 
compose  Class  3  and  then  look  towards  the  Infant." 
He  may  be  such,  legally  so-called,  but  to  my  astonish- 
ment I  see  the  stalwart  young  man  who  performed 
upon  the  bronchitic  horn  !  It  turns  out  later  that 
he  is  the  most  advanced  pupil  in  the  school  and  is 
reading  an  English  book,  called  the  "  Infant  Reader  "  ; 
hence  his  name. 

Leaving  him  and  Class  3  for  another  day,  I  call 
the  young  women  and  girls  to  begin  sewing.  Forty 
are  in  my  class,  and  more  would  like  to  enter,  but  I 
cannot  give  proper  attention  to  a  larger  number. 
One  is  advanced  to  enough  sew  a  child's  frock,  several 
are  hemming  sashes,  most  of  them  are  at  the  ele- 
mentary '  patch  '  stage.  As  I  give  out  the  seams 
I  glance  at  their  hands.  Some,  conscious  of  cleanliness 
and  virtue,  will  voluntarily  turn  up  their  little  pink 
palms  for  my  inspection.  '  Mine  are  clean,  Adonna, 
look  at  mine  1  '  while  others  have  to  be  sent  to 
wash. 

"  Soon  the  class  is  hard  at  work.  Some  learn  very 
quickly,  others  find  the  management  of  the  needle 
almost  beyond  their  powers  ;  some  need  words  of 
praise  and  encouragement  to  help  them  to  persevere, 
while  others  require  judicious  fault-finding  and  critic- 
ism to  nip  incipient  vanity  in  the  bud.  A  few  words 
about  the  use  of  the  words  '  Please  '  and  '  Thank 
you,'  a  few  lessons  in  the  elements  of  gentle  bearing 
to  each  other — courtesy  to  my  self  is  never  lacking 
— are  taken  in  very  good  part,  and  remembered  and 
put  into  practice. 


METHODS  OF  MISSION  WORK  91 


"  In  the  course  of  the  day's  lesson,  which  lasts  two 
and  a  half  to  three  hours,  several  may  get  advanced 
from  the  '  patch  '  to  the  '  sash  '  stage.  The  price 
of  the  ordinary  sash  is  sixpence.  (The  work  done  in 
all  the  sewing  classes  is  sold  later  at  a  little  bazaar, 
and  the  proceeds  are  given  to  some  scheme  in  con- 
nection with  the  native  church.)  I  hear  the  girls 
planning  how  they  will  manage  to  buy  the  sash  when 
it  is  hemmed.  *  I  have  fowls  at  home  worth  six- 
pence,' says  one.  '  I  have  only  one  fowl  but  it 
can  lay  eggs,'  says  another.  Some,  having  no 
source  of  income* can  but  regretfully  admire,  and 
envy  their  more  fortunate  companion. 

"  About  two  o'clock  I  take  in  the  work  again,  and 
proceed  to  do  a  little  simple  surgery,  the  binding 
up  of  ulcers  chiefly.  Anything  serious  I  decline  to 
dress,  advising  the  sufferers  to  come  to  Hospital, 
but  the  simple  sores,  which  are  sadly  common,  are 
quite  within  my  powers.  It  brings  me  into  touch 
with  the  people  at  another  point  of  contact  and 
increases  our  sympathy. 

"  The  dressings  done  and  the  farewells  said,  I  call 
my  carriers,  get  into  my  machila,  and  off  we  go, 
my  men  singing  lustily  as  they  bear  me  swiftly  along 
the  native  path.  The  village  lies  close  among  the 
hills,  and  the  path  winds  in  and  out  through  native 
gardens  and  bush  and  long  grass,  while  two  streams 
and  a  bog  have  to  be  forded.  On  either  side  rise 
the  *  everlasting  hills '  ;  solemn,  grand,  restful, 
beautiful  at  all  times,  in  sunshine  or  shadow.  In 
about  an  hour  we  leave  the  native  path  and  turn 
into  the  dusty  high  road,  and  a  very  short  time  finds 
us  again  at  the  mission." 

And  now  to  show  you  mission  hospital  work.  I 


92  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


have  found  in  the  same  magazine  the  story  of  Gwebede, 
the  Angoni  labourer. 

"  His  home  was  in  far  Angoniland — the  village 
where  his  childhood  had  passed,  where  he  played 
through  many  a  sunny  day,  rolling  in  the  sand  till 
he  was  white,  fighting  mock  battles  with  big  grasses 
for  spears,  '  tying  '  little  houses  of  grass  and  sticks, 
and  lurking  in  them — all  play  and  no  school ;  and 
at  night  time  sleeping  in  his  mother's  hut,  close  to 
the  fire,  beside  the  dogs  and  the  chickens.  Now  he 
is  a  little  boy,  perhaps  ten  years  old,  and  when  his 
brothers  and  uncles  and  companions  are  getting 
ready  to  go  off  to  work  with  the  white  men,  Gwebede 
joins  the  party.  He  will  work  for  three  months  and 
then  come  proudly  home  with  his  earnings.  His 
earnings  will  be  an  altogether  unimaginable  extent 
of  beautiful  white  calico.  Perhaps  it  will  be  enough 
to  pay  his  mother's  hut  tax,  and  when  that  is  paid 
they  will  tuck  the  yellow-edged  paper  with  the  stamp 
on  it  safely  away  among  the  shiny  black  grass  on  the 
inside  of  the  roof. 

"  So  he  trots  gaily  along  the  narrow  path,  carrying 
on  a  stick  over  his  shoulder  some  yellow  cobs  of 
maize  for  food  by  the  way.  At  night  he  is  very 
tired,  and  after  roasting  his  corn  and  grinding  it 
up  with  his  little  white  grinders  he  very  soon  drops 
asleep.  The  party  travel  for  a  day  or  two,  and  then 
stop  to  work  for  a  day  at  some  village  to  earn  food 
for  the  further  journey.  In  about  a  week  they  reach 
their  destination  and  see  the  coffee  planters'  broad 
acres  of  cleared  ground  where  in  rows  grow  the  coffee 
plants,  as  big  as  gooseberry  bushes,  some  of  them 
a  little  bigger.  Then  is  Gwebede  installed  with 
hoe  in  hand  amongst  the  coffee. 


ATTACKED  1!Y  A  LE(^PARl) 


METHODS  OF  MISSION  WORK  93 


"  Now  one  morning  early  Gwebede  got  up  and  had 
just  stepped  out  of  the  grass  shelter  where  he  slept, 
when  a  great  leopard  sprang  on  him,  caught  him  by 
the  back  of  the  neck  in  its  mouth,  and  bounded  off 
with  him  as  easily  as  a  cat  would  do  with  a  mouse. 
Gwebede's  brothers  are  waked  from  their  sleep, 
and  look  out.  *  A  leopard  !  '  they  shout  as  they 
seize  hold  of  the  red  brands  of  their  evening  fire  and 
rush  out  yelling  as  they  run.  Into  the  grass  they 
dash  :  yonder  is  the  leopard  :  after  him  !  He  is 
frightened  :  he  drops  the  boy  :  he  is  off  ! 

"  Then  they  carefully  pick  up  Gwebede.  Poor 
little  Gwebede  !  Is  he  dead  ?  No,  but  there  is  a 
great  wound  as  if  the  leopard  had  taken  a  mouthful 
away  from  the  back  of  his  head.  They  take  him  to 
their  master,  who  promptly  binds  up  the  wound, 
and  sends  them  off  with  a  letter  to  the  hospital. 
It  is  a  long  distance,  and  it  is  late  in  the  afternoon 
when  they  reach  the  mission. 

"  This  was  the  first  we  saw  of  Gwebede.  There  did 
not  seem  to  be  much  hope  for  him.  A  little  thin 
boy  with  a  face  full  of  terror,  whom  the  slightest 
movement  made  to  cry  out  with  pain.  He  refused 
to  swallow  medicine,  so  we  injected  under  his  skin 
a  little  dose  of  that  blessed  drug  that  takes  away  pain, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  he  was  asleep.  Then  we  washed 
and  dressed  his  wound.  A  leopard's  teeth  are  such 
dirty  things  that  the  wound  they  make  is  very 
difficult  to  get  clean.  One  has  to  wash  and  wash 
and  wash  for  a  long  time,  going  carefully  into  all  the 
holes  and  comers. 

"  As  the  days  passed  the  pain  became  less,  and  the 
wound  began  to  heal.  For  several  days  Gwebede 
cried  a  good  deal,  and  we  had  to  repeat  the  dose  under 


94  CHILDREN  OF  AFRICA 


his  skin  to  put  him  to  sleep.  Then  we  noticed  that 
he  was  beginning  to  enjoy  his  food,  and  one  day 
the  attendant  told  us  that  *  Gwebede  had  laughed.' 
These  were  good  signs. 

"  A  few  weeks  later  if  you  could  have  seen  Gwebede 
you  would  have  seen  that  he  was  no  longer  thin,  but 
getting  quite  respectably  stout,  and  also  that  he  was 
constantly  smiling.  The  night  attendant  noticed, 
however,  that  he  sometimes  started  and  cried  out  in 
his  sleep.  This  is  the  way  with  people  that  have 
been  hurt  by  wild  beasts.  For  long  afterwards 
they  dream  dreadful  dreams.  Indeed,  some  of  them 
are  afraid  to  sleep  alone.  They  can't  help  thinking 
that  a  beast  will  come  into  the  room. 

"  One  day  Gwebede's  brothers  came  to  take  him 
home.  They  said  that  the  whole  party  from  their 
village  were  about  to  start  for  home.  We  begged  them 
to  leave  Gwebede  with  us  to  be  attended  to,  and  we 
asked  them  to  come  back  for  him  in  a  month.  They 
said  they  were  afraid  to  go  back  without  him,  because 
Gwebede's  mother  would  say,  *  What  have  you  done 
with  Gwebede  ?  '  We  told  them  that  Gwebede 
was  not  well  enough  to  do  without  having  his  wound 
dressed.  They  saw  also  that  he  was  quite  happy  in 
the  ward.  So  they  decided  to  go  back  to  their  master 
and  do  another  month's  work,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
month  to  come  again  for  Gwebede. 

"  The  month  passed,  Gwebede  walked  about  slowly 
and  sedately,  holding  his  head  in  the  air  because  his 
neck  was  stiff.  He  got  fatter  and  fatter,  till  his 
face  grew  like  a  httle  round  moon — a  black  moon — 
full  of  smiles  and  dimples.  He  was  the  j oiliest  little 
boy  you  could  imagine.  Then  came  again  the  big 
brothers.     Gwebede's  neck  was  now  quite  healed. 


METHODS  OF  MISSION  WORK  95 


The  great  open  wound  had  closed  up  and  now 
there  was  only  a  scar  left.  Soon  he  was  dancing 
and  skipping  along  the  road  with  his  brothers,  having 
clean  forgotten  the  stiffness  of  his  neck,  and  that 
was  the  last  we  saw  of  little  Gwebede." 

Now  that  you  have  heard  such  a  great  deal  about 
Africa  and  its  children,  and  about  mission  work,  are 
you  not  glad,  my  dear  young  friends,  that  you  are 
enjoying  the  privilege  of  helping  to  make  Christ 
known  among  the  black  people,  that  you  are  helping 
them  to  learn  to  read  and  write,  that  you  are  helping 
them  to  be  taught  useful  trades,  and  that  you  are 
helping  to  bind  up  their  wounds  and  ease  their  pain  ? 
I  know  that  you  are.  We  all  want  Africa  to  belong 
to  Christ  and  in  God's  own  time  it  will  be  so.  Mean- 
time we  must  not  faint  or  be  weary  although  the 
fight  against  the  powers  of  darkness  be  fierce  and 
long.  Africa,  the  dark  continent  must,  emerge  from 
darkness  at  the  call  of  her  Lord  and  Master  and 
take  her  place  among  the  nations  who  live  in  the 
Light  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

"  Spirit  of  truth  and  love, 
Life-giving,  holy  Dove, 

Speed  forth  thy  flight : 
Move  o'er  the  water's  face 
Bearing  the  lamb  of  grace, 
And  in  earth's  darkest  place 

Let  there  be  light." 


DATE  DUE 

iiiriiiiiiif^ 

1  

CAVLORO 

PNINTCO  IN  U.S.A. 

